TN 3 (01-17)

GN 03315.025 Disclosure to Law Enforcement Entities Involving Deceased or Missing Individuals

A. Request for information involving deceased individuals

If a law enforcement entity requests a confirmation of death or death information (i.e., date of death) to investigate or prosecute fraud or other criminal activity that:

  • involves SSA’s programs and the source of death in SSA’s records is a State, we may confirm the death and provide death information.

  • does not involve SSA’s programs and the source of death in SSA’s records is a State, we may not provide the confirmation of death or death information pursuant to Section 205(r) of the Social Security Act.

  • does or does not involve SSA’s programs and the source of death in SSA’s records is not a State, we may provide the confirmation of death or death information.

 

If a law enforcement entity requests non-tax return information about a deceased individual and the source of death is a State, we may provide the requested information. The request must satisfy the requirements for valid law enforcement requests and the requirements for disclosure. See GN 03312 for more information about disclosures for law enforcement purposes. However, we may not confirm the individual’s death or provide death information unless the request involves fraud or criminal activity involving SSA’s programs.

If a law enforcement entity requests non-tax return information about an individual who is noted as deceased in SSA’s records and the source of death is not a State, we may provide the law enforcement entity the requested information. We may also provide the law enforcement entity a confirmation of death and death information. For more information concerning disclosure about deceased individuals, see GN 03315.010.

We may disclose tax return information to law enforcement entities when the purpose of the request meets the applicable requirements in Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code. If a law enforcement entity requests a deceased individual’s tax return information, consult your regional Privacy Act Coordinator.

B. Request for information involving missing individuals

We may disclose information from a missing individual’s Social Security record when the purpose of the request meets the requirements for law enforcement-related disclosures. We treat the record as the person is living and apply the same requirements for permissible disclosures for law enforcement-related purposes. For more information concerning valid law enforcement requests and the requirements for disclosure, see GN 03312.000.


To Link to this section - Use this URL:
http://policy.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0203315025
GN 03315.025 - Disclosure to Law Enforcement Entities Involving Deceased or Missing Individuals - 01/06/2017
Batch run: 01/06/2017
Rev:01/06/2017