---
title: "Using the Deceased Field"
slug: "using-the-deceased-field"
updated: 2026-04-13T18:54:36Z
published: 2026-04-13T18:54:36Z
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://knowledge.technolutions.net/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Using the Deceased Field

The **Deceased** field is a standard system field that can be manually selected or cleared on the biographical view of a person record's **Profile** tab.

![](https://cdn.us.document360.io/cd8ea7a6-07f3-4846-a554-627ac016d3e3/Images/Documentation/image-LCSK0WGL.png)

The Deceased field can be exported and filtered on and there are several best practices for using this field to ensure that deceased persons are excluded from future interactions.

## Setting the Deceased Field

The standard fields for **Deceased** and **Deceased Date** can be set manually on a person record, through a form submission, or through an import. To manually mark a record as deceased, take the following steps:

1. Go to the record in Slate.
2. Select the **Profile** tab, then select the **Biographical** link in the right-side pane.
3. Under the **Biographical** section header, select **Deceased** if this record should be marked as deceased.
4. Once this box is checked, a date field appears. Enter the deceased date (entering the date is optional).
5. Select **Save**.

> [!WARNING]
> 📝 Note
> 
> Setting the **Deceased** field does not automate the **Opt Out** tag to be set on this record, nor does it automatically change anything else about the record.

## Querying the Deceased Field

Standard exports and filters related to the **Deceased** field are available for use in the **Query** tool.

| **Name** | **Export or Filter** | **Description** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Deceased** | Export | Exports *1* if the **Deceased** field is selected on the record, or *0* if it is cleared. |
| **Deceased Date** | Export | Exports the date associated with the **Deceased** field. |
| **Deceased** | Filter | Returns records that have have the **Deceased** field selected (*Deceased*) and/or records that do not have this field selected (*Living*). |
| **Deceased Date** | Filter | Returns records based on **Deceased Date**. |

## Best Practices

If your process requires records marked as deceased to be *excluded*from future interactions, consider implementing the following best practices:

### Set the Opt Out Tag

This can always be done manually on a record, but this step should be automated through a rule. Note that this rule should filter for records with the **Deceased** field saved as "Deceased."

### Use the Deceased Filter in Queries

For any query, especially those used for communications, use the person-scoped filter called **Deceased** to only pull records that are ***not*** marked as deceased. This filter may be used for any query base with access to person-scoped filters (such as Person, Applications, or Relationships).

### Set the Person Active Staus to Inactive

The record's *person status* should be set to **Inactive** by a rule.

### Set All Devices to Inactive

Go to the record's **Profile** tab, and select **Contact/Address** from the right-side menu. Mark each device and address as **Inactive** so that these devices and addresses may be filtered out in queries.

### Avoid Contacting Relationship Records

If relationship records of deceased person records should ***not***be contacted, perform the following steps if the relationship record does not have its own linked person record:

1. Inactivate the relationship record's mailing address.
  - Select any addresses under the **Contact/Address** section of the **Profile** tab.
  - Mark these address as **Inactive**.
2. Relationship email addresses cannot be inactivated. If a relationship-scoped query is created for a communication, use the person-scoped **Deceased** filter to ensure that only relationship records tied to person records not marked as deceased will appear in the query.

### Set a Decision on any Active Applications

If a deceased person record has an active application, add a decision to the application that will keep the record from getting future emails and will remove them from the review process. For many databases this may be the "Withdrawn" decision code.

### Cancel Any Future Event Registrations

To avoid a record marked as deceased from receiving future communications related to an event registration, administratively cancel any future events where the record is registered. Note that this may still trigger any automated upon cancellation emails created for the event.

## Marking Relationships as Deceased

If a relationship record should be marked as deceased, perform the following steps:

1. Go to the relationship record.
2. Select the **Profile** tab, then select the **Edit Relationship** link in the right-side pane.
3. If the relationship does not have its own person record, set the **Deceased** field to **Yes**.
4. If the relationship is a linked record, meaning they have their own person record, select **Lookup Record**. Under this person record's **Profile** tab, set the **Deceased** field on the **Biographical** view of this tab.

If deceased relationship records should be excluded from queries, use the **Relation Deceased filter**when querying on the relations base.