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Obtaining a copy of a death record is a fairly simple and straightforward process.Death records must be obtained through your state or local vital records office, as there is currently no national database for retrieving these records. However, there are certain conditions that must be met before you can obtain a copy of a death record.
Who can Obtain a Death Record?

Most of the local and state vital records offices have clear rules on obtaining death records. In fact, most state agencies will only release a death record for an individual who can prove to be a direct-line descendant of the person in question. A direct-line descendant is the spouse, parent or child of the deceased.

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Other persons who are eligible to receive a copy of a death record are those who have documented lawful right or claim, a documented medical need, or a court order handed down from a state court.

In order to request a copy of a death record, the person in question must provide proof of their relationship to the deceased.

The vital records office will then likely request a photo ID, such as a passport or a driver’s licenses, as well as two other letters or statements that show the applicant’s current name and address. Often times, the vital records office will accept documentation such as a utility bill or letter from a governmental agency.

Although each state will have its own set of rules regarding the release of death records, the above information is generally commonplace.

Are There any Exceptions?
For individuals interested in searching for death records for genealogy purposes, the process of obtaining a death record is not that complicated.
However, most state and local vital records offices will only release death records if the individual has been deceased for 50 years or more (this time frame may vary slightly from state to state). At this point, you can receive death certificates for genealogy purposes.

Most vital records offices will require that you request the death certificate in writing, and that you provide a certain amount of information to facilitate the search. Be as accurate as possible when requesting the death certificate, and if you don’t know exact dates and locations, you can estimate.  For example, if you don’t know the exact date of the individual’s death, you can provide a span of years to the vital records office to guide them in their search.

Some of the information you may be asked to provide includes: the date of request, the full name of the deceased, the sex of the person, the date of death, the city and/or town of death, your relationship to the deceased, purpose of your request, and your contact information.

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The vital records office will also ask you to pay a small fee to cover administrative costs.
Online Resources

There are many websites that may be able to help you in your search for death records. They can provide you with the proper information and can greatly facilitate the process so you can receive your death records in a reasonable amount of time.

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Death records can provide us with a plethora of useful information for genealogy purposes, and may prove to be useful when dealing with estates, wills and inheritances.

There are many websites that claim to offer free death records and other vital records, but these websites are often riddled with related fees and expenses – many of which aren’t initially disclosed by the company.

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Look for Hidden Fees
For example, a website that offers free death records may perform a small, initial search that locates the individual in question (this simplified search is easy to complete). Then, once the deceased individual is located, the website then takes you to a new website that asks you to pay for the service of finding a death record. Often, these misleading websites charge more than other death records websites.

The bottom line is that all state and local vital records offices around the country charge a fee for a death record request. This fee generally covers the administrative costs of searching for and printing death records.Therefore, a website can’t offer a free search for a death record when the vital records office from where they are obtaining the information is charging a fee for the service.

Beware of Inaccurate Information
If a website claims to offer free death records, it may very well provide you with misleading or inaccurate information on the person on which you are requesting the death record. For most individuals that rely on an accurate death record for genealogy or simply personal reasons, an inaccurate death record is completely useless.

How to Facilitate your Search
Of course, there are reputable resources online that can help you locate the death records you seek.  Archives.com, for example, is a powerful and comprehensive resource that can connect you with the right records.   While this is a paid service, you can utilize their free 7-day trial to evaluate the service and begin your search for death records.

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Your genealogy search has never been easier using the power of the Internet.  Websites such as Archives.com are there to make the searching process easier, saving you time and effort.   The excitement of the Internet and the many conveniences that come along with it have empowered many individuals to find loved ones and ancestors – all with the click of a button.

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Death records may generally be obtained from the state or municipality in which the individual died. However, the process of obtaining a death record often involves a bit more legwork than simply requesting it.

Death records provide a good deal of useful information about an individual’s death, including: the date of death, the place of death, and the name of the mother and father. Death records may also include the maiden name of the deceased’s mother.
Regardless of why you are requesting a death record, it is important to understand that state and local governments are the only entities that issue death records; it is therefore often practical to head to the vital records office of the state or city in which the individual died.

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There are many resources for obtaining a death record; however, the conveniences of the Internet have allowed many individuals to obtain information on loved ones and ancestors that otherwise would have been quite difficult and time consuming to find.
Vital Records Offices

Most vital records offices accept walk-in requests; however, because most of these vital records offices are inundated with vital records requests, you may have to wait several weeks before they provide you with the death record in question.
With that said, you may also obtain a copy of a death record through the vital records website of the state in question, you may also send in a written request for the information.

Social Security Death Index
Another valuable search tool for death certificates is through the Social Security Death Index. Begun in 1935, this online database is quite comprehensive, and it may be particularly useful if you don’t know the state in which an individual died. This website, however, may ask a lot of information about the deceased, including the name, the date of birth, the date of death, the social security number, and the state or county of residence.

The Social Security Death Index is quite a valuable search tool, as it contains over 80 million records of death that have been reported to the SSA. However, it is important to understand that the Social Security Death Index does not have information on all individuals.

Online Searches
There are a number of online archives, however, that can provide you with death records in a more convenient fashion. All reputable search engines will require a fee; however, these fees are typically very small, and the search can be completed from the comfort of your home.

Perhaps the most convenient part of using an online archive database is that you can search for individuals who died in different states. In other words, instead of searching for ancestors using separate state websites, you can perform comprehensive searches from one location.

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There are many websites that either provide links to the appropriate state’s website or utilize search engines of their own. Either way, they can be highly useful when searching for death records from nearly any time and place.

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