Death and the public family tree

A question came recently about using public family trees as death sources. Here is Sandy's answer.

If you find a DOCUMENT (like the photo of the death certificate) on a public tree, it can be counted as a DEATH CERTIFICATE and given a QC1 (assuming it's your guy with proof of parents' names and birth date just like any other death certificate).

A document on a public tree is not the same as an unsourced date written in a public tree. A document is a document and should be treated as such.

Do not take PLACE of death from a tree when you got the DATE of death elsewhere (example Find A Grave). If you found a good death date somewhere other than a tree, then use that (QC3 or higher). If the only place you find the PLACE OF DEATH to go along with that death date is a public tree, then we don't want you to use the place of death, because public trees are last resorts only and are QC4. If each field had a QC, then we probably would allow adding bits of information from a public tree.  But we can't do that.

If you only find the place of death and the death date on the public tree, then you may use the information from the public tree as a QC4.

In a nutshell: a public tree can be used for death information if, and only if, it is the ONLY information you can find. Give it a QC4.  If the tree has a photo of a document as a source of death information, treat that document like any other document with the appropriate QC up to a QC1.