Terminology, newspaper coverage and public access differ by country. Choose a guide for recent notices, historical archives and practical local search advice.
In the United States, start with recent newspaper and funeral-home notices when the death was recent, then move to digitized local newspapers for older searches. A city, state or county is often more useful than a precise death date because obituary coverage is local and no single national source contains every notice.
Open United States guideFor a Canadian obituary, begin with recent obituary directories and funeral-home notices, then search provincial newspapers and Library and Archives Canada for older material. Province and municipality matter: coverage, language and public access differ across Canada, and a national search may miss a notice held by a local paper or library.
Open Canada guideIn the United Kingdom, recent deaths are often recorded as funeral notices, death notices or family announcements rather than long obituaries. Start with Funeral Notices and local newspaper notice pages; for older searches, use the British Newspaper Archive, Findmypast and civil-registration indexes, adding the town, county or historic county whenever possible.
Open United Kingdom guideFor Australian obituary research, search My Tributes for recent death and funeral notices, use the Ryerson Index to identify newspaper citations, and turn to Trove for digitized historical newspapers. State, city and newspaper title are important because coverage varies widely, and an index result may still require a separate library or newspaper search.
Open Australia guideFor a recent Irish death, begin with RIP.ie and search by county as well as surname. For historical research, use Irish Newspaper Archives, the British Newspaper Archive, Findmypast and Irish Genealogy. Keep obituary, death notice and civil death record separate: each can confirm different facts and follows different access rules.
Open Ireland guide