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The Death Master File

Apr 13, 2018
by Caroline Miller
60 Minutes, Mickey Burton, social security numbers, The Death Master File, The Final File
4 Comments

One summer, between my freshman and sophomore year of college, I worked in a bank — a bank vault to be exact. I had three duties. I allowed people access to their safe deposit boxes. I filed historical records. And daily, I read the obituaries in the city’s two newspapers. My job was to compare the list of names in the paper with those of our customers. If I found a match, the account was closed and none of the deceased’s nearest and dearest, including someone who held the account jointly, had access to the assets. Too bad for the survivor who had to go on paying the mortgage and purchasing food.

That summer job is when I learned that a close association with the dead could be fatal. Wives, particularly, would wring their hands and explain to me they needed to enter the vault because their husband’s will was in their safety deposit box.   As touching and understandable as their stories were, my job was to steele my heart. When a person had died, assets were frozen until the court said otherwise.

In “The Final File,” Mikey Burton uncovers some inconvenient truths with regard to death and social security. (New Republic, 9/10 2015 pgs. 4-5) Once pronounced dead by a government computer, the person identified as such must stay dead — even if he or she just finished a hamburger with fries — until someone in authority decides otherwise. Worse, the social security number retires with the deceased, which means that person hasn’t enough identity to buy a burial plot.  

According to the U. S. inspector general’s office, the Death Master File is sorely out of whack. Of no consequence to them but, according to official records, 6.5 million of the dead haven’t been notified of their status, are officially alive and some of them appear to be collecting social security. (Naughty, naughty) Turn the coin over and you’ll discover the number of those living but pronounced dead is unknown. Recently, TV program, 60 Minutes, did a segment on a few who have been cast into the twilight zone. According to them, getting out of that Death Master File takes more than showing up at the social security office and pricking your thumb to draw blood. In fact, the amount of paperwork required to revive your social security number and be born again is heart stopping.

Knowing the symbiotic relationship between you and your social security number should make you to feel sentimental about those 9 digits. When it goes…   Well, you’re deader than dead. You’re hopelessly dead.

The same can’t be said for these blogs, however. As there’s no permanent way to erase my virtual reality, I’m virtually immortal. I can thumb my nose at the Death Master File.  

(Orginally published 10/15/15)

Skeleton read a list

Courtesy of bookcalendar.blogspot.com

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4 Comments
  1. S. L. Stoner October 15, 2015 at 7:15 pm Reply
    Very funny!
    • Caroline Miller October 15, 2015 at 8:12 pm Reply
      Must admit I had a little fun with it. Not sure what that says about me.
  2. Pamela October 26, 2015 at 1:21 pm Reply
    Funny? I think this is terrifying. I need to ask, what conditions must apply to freeze a safety deposit box? If one exists in both partners' names, then the wife could access, right? What if the someone has power of attorney, or is the trustee, as I am in the case of my mother? I know WAY too little about access after death, and the older I get the more this will surely matter!!
    • Caroline Miller October 26, 2015 at 4:25 pm Reply
      Well, my information may be ancient, but I do believe that regardless of a joint ownership of a safety deposit box, the box is sealed until the court decides who has authority to what. As I mentioned in the blog, many a wife ended up without funds or access to papers, like a wills, until the court adjudicated ownership. Copies of important documents should be in some other secure location besides a safety deposit box. But you would be wise to consult an attorney. Laws may vary from state to state or may have changed. Or, just ask the bank where your documents are stored about their process at the time of death. Check access to joint savings and checking accounts with your bank as well. Don't take access for granted. That would be a mistake.

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Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate.

Her play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, was performed at the Post5 Theatre, Portland, OR, January/February 2015

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens.  She also published the story Gustav Pavel,  a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.

Caroline has published four novels

  • Ballet Noir
  • Trompe l’Oeil
  • Gothic Spring
  • Heart Land

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