Depends what information you are looking for. For basic identification info like SSN and birth date, place and date of death start with the SSDI death index at Ancestry.com – > There are thousands of public records available online for free from government sites, a good place to start is a directory of public records sites all over the country. For court records, take a look at

Yes, you can search public records for free. Try, they have an extensive public records section that you can search for free. Good luck!

Do a search on the web, everyone has a cousin that they haven’t seen in years who has done some of the research already. in a search engine type in
(your last name)+genealogy
you can also try
(your last name)+family
Good Luck

You can post a query on rootsweb.com, a free Q & A forum, owned by ancestry.com.
List the deceased persons full name, dates and places of birth, marriage, death.
You can search the Social Security Death Index.

In many cases, yes. However, some things are best searched by going personally (if that is possible) to the county records office where that person lived or lives.

is this person living? you might try peoplesearch.com or some of those websites if they are. If they are deceased then try the ss index to see if you can find them