How to get a death certificate and how many copies to order

Marcus ordered three death certificates after his father died. It seemed like plenty. One went to the life insurance company, one went to the bank, and the third went to the county recorder so he could transfer the house. Then the pension administrator asked for one. Then the brokerage firm. Then the DMV, for a 2009 Buick nobody wanted. He spent the next six weeks waiting on a mail order from the state vital records office while every account sat frozen.

He's not unusual. Almost everyone who settles an estate learns how to get a death certificate twice: once in a fog right after the death, and again when they realize they didn't order enough. This guide covers who files the certificate, how to order certified copies, what they cost, how long they take, and how to figure out the right number the first time. Rules differ from state to state, so treat this as a general map and check with your local vital records office for the details where you live.

Who files the death certificate?

In most cases you don't file the death certificate yourself. The funeral home or crematory handles it. They collect the personal details from the family, a doctor or medical examiner fills in the cause of death, and the funeral director submits the completed record to the local or state registrar, usually within a few days of the death.

The personal details are where you come in. The funeral director will ask for the person's full legal name, date and place of birth, Social Security number, parents' names (including the mother's maiden name), marital status, highest level of education, and usual occupation. It's a surprising amount of information to produce when you're exhausted, and getting it right matters, since the certificate becomes the official record. If you're not sure of something, say so rather than guessing. A wrong middle name or birth date can cause problems later when a bank compares it against their records.

The medical part is filled in by whoever was responsible for the person's care. That's usually the attending physician or a hospice doctor if the death was expected. If the death was sudden, unexplained, or the result of an accident, the medical examiner or coroner gets involved instead, and that can change the timeline quite a bit.

If no funeral home is involved, such as with a home funeral in a state that allows family-directed arrangements, the family or their designated agent takes on the filing. Your local health department can walk you through that process.

How to get a death certificate: ordering certified copies

The easiest way to get certified copies of a death certificate is to order them through the funeral home when you make arrangements. They'll add the cost to your bill and hand the copies to you once the record is registered.

If you need more copies later, or you didn't order through the funeral home, you can request them from the vital records office in the state (or sometimes the county) where the person died. Note that it's the place of death that matters, not where they lived. If your mother lived in New Jersey but died in a hospital in Pennsylvania, you'll order from Pennsylvania. The CDC's Where to Write for Vital Records page lists every state's office along with current fees and mailing addresses.

Most states let you order in person, by mail, or online. Many use a third-party service such as VitalChek for online orders, which is faster but adds a processing fee. In person is usually quickest if you live nearby. Some county offices will print a copy while you wait.

When you order, expect to provide:

The deceased person's full name, date of death, and city or county of death
Your relationship to them
A copy of your government-issued photo ID
Proof of your eligibility if you're not immediate family, such as letters testamentary showing you're the executor
Payment

Certified copies vs informational copies

A certified copy has an official seal, often raised or printed on security paper, and it's the version that banks, insurers, and courts will accept. Most states restrict who can get one. Spouses, children, parents, siblings, the executor, and people with a documented legal interest usually qualify.

An informational copy contains the same information but is stamped as not valid for establishing identity or settling legal matters. Genealogists use them. You almost certainly don't want one for estate work, so double-check which box you're ticking on the form.

How long does it take to get a death certificate?

If you order through the funeral home, certified copies usually arrive within one to three weeks of the death. Ordering directly from a state office can take anywhere from a same-day counter visit to six weeks or more by mail, depending on the state and how backed up they are.

The biggest source of delay is a pending cause of death. When a medical examiner orders an autopsy or toxicology tests, the certificate is often issued with the cause listed as "pending investigation." Toxicology results can take two to three months in some places. A pending certificate is still a legal death certificate, and many institutions will accept it for things like closing a bank account. Life insurers, though, often wait for the final cause of death before they'll pay a claim. Once the medical examiner finishes, the record is amended, and you'll want to order fresh copies showing the final cause.

A death that happens outside the United States follows a different path. The local authorities issue a death certificate in that country, and the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate can prepare a Consular Report of Death of a U.S. Citizen Abroad, which most American institutions will accept. The State Department's page on deaths abroad explains how to request one.

How many death certificates do you need?

Most families need between 8 and 12 certified copies. Ordering too few is far more common than ordering too many, and a few extra copies cost a lot less than weeks of delay.

Rather than picking a number at random, it helps to count. Sit down with whatever you know about the person's finances and make a rough list. You'll generally need one certified copy for each of these:

Every life insurance policy, including group coverage through an employer
Every bank or credit union where they had an account in their own name
Each brokerage, IRA, 401(k), or annuity provider
Any pension plan
The probate court, if the estate goes through probate
The county recorder, for each piece of real estate that needs a new deed
The DMV, for each vehicle being transferred or sold
The VA, if the person was a veteran and the family is applying for burial or survivor benefits

Then add two or three for the things you haven't thought of yet. In Marcus's case, the honest count would have been nine.

Some institutions will look at your certified copy, make their own photocopy, and hand the original back. It never hurts to ask. When you mail a copy, ask whether they'll return it, and keep a short list of where each one went.

Plenty of places don't need a certified copy at all. Utilities, credit card companies, phone carriers, and most subscription services will accept a scan or photocopy. Social Security is usually notified by the funeral home directly, and if you're applying for survivor benefits through the SSA, they can often confirm the death from their own records. Save your certified copies for the places that won't budge.

Where you'll use them

It helps to know the order things tend to happen in. In the first week or two, you'll mostly be dealing with the funeral itself and notifying people. Our checklist of what to do when someone dies breaks that period down hour by hour and day by day.

The death certificates come into play once the paperwork starts. The life insurance claim is often first, because families may need that money for funeral costs or the mortgage, and our guide to filing a life insurance claim explains what insurers will ask for alongside the certificate. Banks come next. Each one has its own process for handling a deceased customer's accounts, which we cover in how to close a bank account after someone dies.

If the estate needs to go through probate, the court will want a certified copy when the executor files the petition. Real estate and vehicle transfers usually happen later still, sometimes months after the death.

Fixing a mistake on a death certificate

Errors on death certificates are more common than you'd think, and they matter. A misspelled name or wrong date of birth can cause a bank or insurer to reject the document, because it doesn't match their records.

If you spot a mistake, contact the funeral home first. If the certificate hasn't been registered yet, or was registered very recently, they can often fix it quickly. Once the record is filed, corrections go through the state vital records office, usually with a form called an affidavit or application to amend, plus supporting documents like a birth certificate or passport that show the correct information. Medical errors, such as the cause of death, have to be corrected by the doctor or medical examiner who certified it.

Read the first copy carefully the day you receive it, before you send copies anywhere. It's much easier to fix one error than to recall eight copies with the same mistake on them.

Making it easier for your own family

You can't order your own death certificate, obviously. But you can make it a lot easier for whoever eventually does. The hardest part for most families isn't the ordering. It's answering the funeral director's questions about a parent's birthplace or their mother's maiden name, and then figuring out how many accounts exist.

Writing those details down takes about twenty minutes. Put your full legal name, birthplace, parents' names, Social Security number, and a list of your financial accounts and insurance policies somewhere your executor can find it. A letter of instruction is a natural place for it.

Marcus said the thing he kept thinking about, standing in line at the vital records office for the second time, was how little his father had needed to leave behind to spare him all that. A sheet of paper, really. If you'd like somewhere to keep that sheet of paper, When I Die Files lets you store the boring details right next to the letters you'd want your family to read, so whoever is standing in that line has both.