What is an Obituary Monitor?
An obituary monitor is an automated service that continuously scans obituary sources across the web and alerts you when a potential match is found for names you're tracking.
How Does an Obituary Monitor Work?
Obituary monitoring services work by continuously scanning publicly available obituary sources including funeral home websites, newspaper obituary sections, and obituary aggregator sites. When you set up a "watch" for a specific person's name and location, the system:
- Collects new obituary notices from various sources
- Extracts key information like names, locations, and dates
- Compares this data against your watch criteria
- Sends you an alert when a high-confidence match is found
Who Uses Obituary Monitoring Services?
Various professionals and individuals rely on obituary monitoring:
- Estate planning attorneys - To identify when clients or relevant parties pass away
- Financial advisors - To manage beneficiary notifications and account transitions
- Insurance companies - To process life insurance claims efficiently
- Debt collectors - To handle estate claims appropriately
- Family members - To stay informed about distant relatives
- Genealogists - To track family history and lineage
What Makes a Good Obituary Monitor?
The best obituary monitoring services share these characteristics:
- High-confidence matching - Uses multiple data points (name, location, relatives) to minimize false positives
- Broad source coverage - Scans many obituary sources, not just one or two
- Timely alerts - Sends notifications quickly after obituaries are published
- Privacy protection - Keeps your watch list private and secure
- Easy to use - Simple setup process without technical knowledge required
Manual Searching vs. Automated Monitoring
While you can manually search for obituaries, this approach has significant drawbacks. You'd need to check multiple websites daily, remember to search regularly, and potentially miss notices that appear on sources you don't check. An automated obituary monitor handles all of this for you, running 24/7 and ensuring you don't miss important notices.