§ 402.40 Requests for deceased individual's records.

(a) The agency will disclose the records concerning a deceased individual when we have acceptable proof of death unless Federal law or regulations prohibits the disclosure. (b) Proof of death includes: (1) A copy of a public record of death of the number holder; (2) A statement of death by the funeral home director; (3) A statement of death by the attending physician or the superintendent, physician, or intern of the institution where the person died; (4) A copy of the coroner's report of death or the verdict of the coroner's jury; (5) An obituary that we determine has sufficient identifying information; or (6) Other certified record of death that we determine within our discretion is acceptable. (c) If upon review of the provided proof of death, we cannot determine that the individual is deceased or we have questions about the authenticity of the proof, then the proof is not acceptable. When we do not have acceptable proof of death, we will treat the request in accordance with § 402.20(b), requests for information about a living person.