I wish it were easier for people to search for their living relatives and not just their ancestors.

LegacyUser

Fernando Rebouças said: When a person searches for distant relatives, the site directs them to deceased relatives. If the person does not know or remember the names of the person's parents, he is discouraged by the search.
The website should show all the names and not just the people who have died.

LegacyUser

David Newton said: Illegal so won't happen.

LegacyUser

Tom Huber said: First, welcome to the community support forum for FamilySearch. FamilySearch personnel read every discussion thread and may or may not respond as their time permits. We all share an active interest in using the resources of this site and as users, we have various levels of knowledge and experience and do our best to help each other with concerns, issues, and/or questions.

Second, there are two major databases which a user can search.

One is the historical records. There is no restriction on living or deceased persons. If the database (that has been released) has living people in it, then they will show up in the search results.

The other is the massive single tree that makes up FamilySearch Family Tree. Laws regarding privacy are adhered to by FamilySearch and as such, any living person will not appear in the public tree. Laws vary by jurisdiction and some are more stringent than others. Since FamilySearch is an international site.the most stringent laws (wherever they may exist) are the laws that FamilySearch follows. That means that any living people that users have entered are not displayed and are not searchable. Those names and details are held in that user's private space.

There has been some discussion about allowing us to search our own private space, but I have not kept up with the process and whether or not that has been implemented. Regardless, no living persons should ever appear in searches against the massive tree.

This is a very serious legal matter and FamilySearch is very conscientious about adhering to the law, even if it is frustrating.

There is something that a user can do and that is to maintain their own private (on their local computer or storage device) tree with sources and details that includes everyone. If they wish to share that tree with other people, that is up to them, but if you live in an area that has very stringent laws regarding privacy, a word to the wise is to be very cautious about what you share. I don't know what penalties are involved, but I suspect some are more draconian than others.

LegacyUser

Paul said: Fernando

Firstly, the names of a huge number of living persons are available on the FamilySearch site. They are found in various collections. In the USA I believe that includes census records and here in England you can find births and marriages up to 2006. (See https://www.familysearch.org/search/r... for an example of English births in 2006.)

With regards to Family Tree, you can find living persons YOU have added by putting them on your Watch list. Then all you have to do is go to "People I'm Watching" and type "living" in the "Filter" box for a list of them.

As pointed out, there are privacy constraints regarding living persons OTHER USERS have added to Family Tree (as some highly personal details might have been added to their profiles), so there is no way you can find those records.

LegacyUser

Tom Huber said: If I am looking to see if a relative is still alive, I'll make use of Zaba Search (https://www.zabasearch.com/), but be aware that there are sites that want to charge you $$ for searching for people and they advertise on living people sites.

LegacyUser

Amy Archibald said: Message the other users who are making contributions to the ancestors you are looking at in the Family Tree. These people are most likely also the descendants or relatives of these individuals.

Also, if you already know the name of the living person, you can find contact information for them at this resource: https://www.truepeoplesearch.com/