Trump’s Death Master File and Its Impact on Your Finances
It’s always something with this administration, right? I’ve got Murphy’s Law behind me, always watching me. ‘Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.’ I’ll admit, there were a lot of things that were pretty predictable about the Trump administration, but the Death Master File wasn’t one of them.
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We knew the Trump Administration would be hard on immigration, and we knew they’d bend the rules or maybe even break them. We’re seeing that play out every single day. Honestly, I expected the stock market to crash during the Trump tariff war. None of this is surprising, but every so often, something unexpected happens.
It’s like, I can’t believe what they just did. Some of it is comical because it’s pure incompetence, and some of it feels like pure evil. That’s what I’m talking about today. By the way, I’m still waiting for my DOGE check—I don’t trust them. I already wrote a prior blog post, which you can see below, about freezing your credit. It’s a step I took because security experts have been warning for a while now that if a breach happens, it will be unlike anything we’ve seen before.
This isn’t like a credit card company breach with limited information. This is the U.S. government, with all the information they have on us. You can imagine the disaster: stolen identities and everything else. That’s one of the changes I’ve made besides financial.
The Death Master File
Now, the issue I saw today? Another disaster. A financial disaster. And remember, that’s what Bankruptcy.blog is about: finances, getting out of debt, protecting your money, being informed, and being prepared.
This new issue involves something I had never heard of until it showed up in the news and a New York Times article. Most people have probably never heard of it either. It’s called the Death Master File. Let me backtrack for a second…
President Trump once mentioned that 200-year-olds were collecting Social Security checks, which is just laughable. I couldn’t help but laugh and think, what a joke. Now, Social Security has a rule that at 110 years old, checks are automatically blocked from going out. Imagine being 110 years old and somehow making it down to the Social Security Administration offices to say, ‘I’m still alive, guys! Please send me a check.’ But that’s literally what happens—no exaggeration.
When someone dies, the process is straightforward. Social Security numbers are reported through the funeral home, which provides a death certificate to the Social Security Administration. That’s it; you’re done. I’ve experienced this firsthand, unfortunately, as both of my parents have passed away. No extra checks were coming in or anything like that.
When you open a bank account, you have to prove your identity. You do this with documents like your driver’s license, passport (if you have one), and Social Security card. All that information gets run through the system.
If you give the wrong Social Security number, maybe you wrote it down wrong or got the last number mixed up. It won’t match, and you won’t be able to open the account. Now, what happens if the number you provide is tied to someone deceased? Clearly, you’re not opening a bank account in that case.
This ties into the latest moves by the federal government. They’re stripping away rights and targeting legal immigrants. We’ve seen legal immigrants being deported, and President Trump has even floated the idea of deporting U.S. citizens. That’s laughable—just one of his distractions. If that ever happened, I wouldn’t even know what to say. I don’t expect it, but it’s still absurd.
With legal immigration, we’ve seen cases like that of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. He should never have been deported, and even less to CECOT, the El Salvador prison. The Trump administration’s response? ‘What do you want us to do? He’s over there, and we have no control.’ The whole situation is disgusting, and this is just another one of those moves.
But now, to speed up the deportation process, if a legal immigrant is mistakenly placed on the Death Master File, their Social Security number becomes invalid because, according to the system, they’re ‘dead.’ Moving forward, what happens to the money in their bank account? They can’t access it because the person is presumed deceased.
What Can You Do to Protect Yourself from the Death Master File?
Normally, when someone dies, accessing their account requires going through probate court. You’d need to prove the person died, whether they had a will or not, and establish yourself as the beneficiary or next of kin.
But here’s the problem: How do you go to probate court for someone who isn’t actually dead? There’s no jurisdiction. The first step in probate is proving the person’s death, which requires a death certificate. Without a body or a death certificate, there’s no way to proceed.
In this scenario, the government has declared the person dead, but there’s no physical evidence or documentation to support it. So, probate is off the table. What’s next?
A Transfer on Death (TOD) designation is a good way to avoid probate. Lawyers often recommend this as a simple method to bypass the probate process. If you list someone as a beneficiary on your TOD account, it doesn’t mean they can access your account while you’re alive. The only time they’ll have access is after your death, and they’ll need a certified copy of the death certificate from the Bureau of Vital Statistics. But if you’re not dead, that approach obviously won’t work either.
So, what’s left? You can add someone as a co-owner on your account. Hopefully, that doesn’t create other issues, as I’ve seen too many times when a family member goes wild with the bank accounts and finances.
Probably the simplest way to protect yourself is to transfer funds to an account belonging to someone unlikely to face this issue. Keep the problematic account with only a minimal amount of money in it. That way, if life returns to normal, you can resume using it as a regular account. If the account is closed, only a few dollars are lost.
I understand that this is not the perfect solution. As lawyers often say, we’re not magicians—we can only work with the facts presented to us.
Thinking about the government falsely declaring someone dead, solely to make their life more difficult, is appalling. It’s disheartening behavior, but you must do everything within your power to protect yourself. Depending on your situation, you could start getting paid in cash or cashing checks immediately and keeping cash on hand. It’s like going back to the 1980s—or perhaps 1984, given the current circumstances. George Orwell would be proud.
Paying for things this way, however, comes with its own set of challenges, particularly the time and expense involved. For example, if you’re paying rent or a mortgage, you might need to get a cashier’s check, which costs around $7 to $10.
Money orders are an option, but I’m not a fan—they’re harder to trace. A cashier’s check is a much better choice for record-keeping. Money orders may only cost about a dollar, but you might run into issues proving the payments were made.
If it’s a local bank and you’re paying a mortgage, you might be able to walk in and pay them directly, which could simplify the process and avoid additional costs.
Be Informed. Get Prepared!
Just look at the overall picture here: the government is declaring people dead, and they’re doing it purely for immigration reasons. The domino effect, the snowball effect—it’s exactly what I’ve been warning about. So, what do you do now? Your Social Security number becomes useless. Sure, you can go to court, but get in line. How many lawsuits have already been filed against this administration?
I’ve always said it’s easier to stay out of trouble than to get out of it. If you believe you’re in this situation as an immigrant and you’re just now learning about the Death Master List—yes, it sounds morbid—the reality is you have to protect yourself. That’s what this blog and everything else I do is about: being informed and prepared.
Take those steps, and take them now. Don’t let them take your money. It’s your money. You worked hard for it. Don’t mess with people’s money—that’s how they put food on the table.
This is one of those situations. I wish the news were better, but the good news is that now you know this is happening, and you can take steps to protect yourself. You have to protect yourself—there’s no way around it.
I hope you don’t have to deal with this garbage, and I’m sorry if you do. Unfortunately, we’re facing unprecedented times, and drastic actions are required. Be prepared. I hope to bring you better news next time.
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