Death Certificates

Death Certificates

The importance of a death certificate

When you experience the loss of a family member, one of the things you'll need to do when meeting with the funeral director, is provide specific information regarding your loved one. Information needs to be collected in order for a death certificate to be created. Although death certificates vary from state to state, most death certificates include:

• deceased's full name
• place of birth and date of birth
• date and place of death
• cause of death
• attending physician's signature or the coroner's signature

Ask for at least six certified copies of the death certificate. You'll need to keep one in a safe area for future reference. Certified copies of the death certificate will be needed by the family when dealing with:

• probating the estate
• insurance claims
• Veteran's benefits
• Social Security
• retirement benefits

How to obtain a copy of a death certificate in the United States.

To obtain a certified copy of a death certificate, you'll need to send a request or go in person to the vital statistics office where the death occurred. In many instances, this would be the county court house or the municipal building.

Each state has an Office of Vital Records (OVR) which is the State Registrar. They maintain a permanent public record of each death that occurred in their state. For written requests, you'll need to follow these steps:

• make your letter concise
• type or print all names and addresses
• provide complete information regarding the deceased: full name, sex of the person, date and place of death
• state the purpose for which the recorded is needed
• state your relationship to the deceased (i.e. brother, daughter)
• provide your driver's license number and state
• sign your full name
• notarized sworn statement
• enclose the application (you can go online and download a application)
• provide a self addressed stamped envelope
• enclose the processing fee

Please note that you can request to receive a certified informational copy. For this, you do not need to provide a sworn statement. A certified informational copy will suffice for some situations, but it cannot be used to establish identity. For most situations, you'll need a certified copy.

Processing requests typically takes six weeks or more. Usually the OVR will send a postcard acknowledging the request and saying that it has been accepted or if for some reason the request isn't accepted, a letter will be sent instructing you on what needs to be done.

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