How can I determine if a person has current life insurance when I can not locate the papers?

Ask them.

You can't. There is no national clearing house where this information is stored. If you cannot locate the paperwork and the person is deceased there is nothing you can do about this. If you did have the name of the insurance company and you are the beneficiary, that's a different story. The beneficiary would have to call the insurance company themselves.

If the person is deceased and you're pretty sure he/she had a life insurance policy, contact the Department of Insurance in the state where the policy is likely to have been issued (where the decedent lived). Some states have processes by which they'll contact all the insurance carriers licensed in their states (usually by mass email) to ask whether the carrier had a policy on John Doe. The DOI will need the insured's full name (maiden and married, as applicable, in the case of a female) and date of birth at the very least... the more info you can provide, the better.

If the person in question is still alive, the only way to proceed is to ask him/her... no insurer is likely to release any information about a living policyholder due to privacy issues.

You also may want to check with the Dept of Treasury for that state if the person did have a policy, and the insurance company could not contact beneficiary the money is realeased to the state at least that what happen in my father case. He has purchased a life insurance before meeting my mothere and before my brith and when he did the money was given to the state and I can not claim it.

Sorry no there is no state data base on who has insurance policies you will have to * if they are dead* check though all of their papers and watch their mail for the next year to see if they get bills for insurance payments.