Where To Get A Death Certificate In New York
Get a certified copy of a death certificate online or by visiting the state vital records office. Ordering your death certificate online is the easiest way to order death records.
If you are looking for the nearest office in your city, visitOnlineVitals.com, the first of its kind public database to find vital records offices online.
Note: Due to the spread of the COVID-19, some vital record agencies are closed or they are only processing by mail or online applications.Check the current status here.
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Who Can Obtain A Certified Copy Of A Death Certificate
You are entitled to obtain a certified copy of a death certificate if you are:
- An immediate member of the decedents family. Immediate family member is defined as:
- Parent
- Grandchild
Other applicants may be provided a statement that the death occurred, including the date and county of death, but not an actual certified copy of a death certificate.
Death certificates become public records after 50 years. Then any person may obtain an uncertified copy of the death certificate, upon submission of application form and fees.
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Who Is Entitled To Each Type Of Death Certificate
The following relations to the deceased may request both a death certificate and the confidential cause of death medical report:
- Spouse
- Informant listed on the certificate
- Person in control of disposition
The following relations may only request a death certificate, not the cause of death:
- Niece/Nephew
- Great grandchild and great-great grandchild
- Grandniece/Grandnephew
If you are not listed above as an entitled party, you must document your right to get a death certificate. See instructions below.
If you are an attorney who has been retained by an entitled party, follow the instructions below.
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Ignore The Genealogists At Your Peril
When you read our Petition, youll see quotations from many notable people and venerable societies within the genealogical community, who took the time to give testimony and provide public comments to the Department of Health, carefully documenting all the reasons why these new rules were a very bad idea but who were then totally ignored.
In October 2017, sixty-two genealogists even showed up at a Department of Health public meeting to protest the proposal of these new rules. This was more people than had shown up to any New York City Department of Health meeting on any subject in several years! Every person who gave testimony spoke out against the proposal. Not even one member of the general public submitted a comment in favor of the new stricter rules.
Pictured above: some of the sixty-two genealogists, historians, and adoptee rights activists who protested the proposed rule change at the New York City Department of Health public meeting in Long Island City, Queens, in October 2017.
But the Department of Health didnt listen to the thousands of public comments that poured in, unanimously in opposition to their proposed rule change.
How To Correct A Death Certificate
Any corrections to the medical portion of a death certificate must be started by the Medical Certifier who completed the original death certificate. They must provide the cause of death based on available medical records. The Medical Certifier is named on the death certificate.
To reach the Medical Certifier, you can contact the facility where the death occurred, or a funeral director if they filed the death certificate with state or local vital records authorities.
Note: The New York State Department of Health does not have the authority to alter information on a death certificate without a request from the Medical Certifier. The Department also cannot require a Medical certifier to correct a death certificate.
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New York State Death Certificates
To find a death certificate, researchers should begin by searching New York States index to all deaths beginning in 1880. Death indexes are made available after 50 years.
The NYG& B eLibrary contains images of the New York State Death Index, and images can also be found at Internet Archive.
The images in these collections are not searchable, but they are easy to browse by year, though the image quality of some years makes it difficult to read certain images.
Ancestry.com has a searchable database that also contains the same images as the collections above.
For more recent deaths, researchers should use New York States Interactive Ancestry/Genealogical Research Death Index, which begins with 1957 and contains deaths up to the current legal limit .
Again, these indexes do not cover several notable locations. New York City death records have always been kept completely separate from vital records of other locations in New York State. See the New York City section of this guide for more information.
Additionally, New York State does not have death records for Albany, Buffalo, or Yonkers before 1914. Click the name of each municipality to find out about obtaining vital records for your ancestors in these cities.
Once you have found the death certificate number, youre ready to request a copy.
New York State Death Records
New York began statewide registration of births, marriages, and deaths in 1880-81, under supervision of the State and local boards of health. Compliance with the law was incomplete until 1913 or even later therefore certificates are lacking for many events.
Several of the State’s larger cities recorded vital events for varying periods of time prior to 1880 see below for more information. An 1847 law required the school districts in each town to collect vital statistics. They ceased doing so after a few years.
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It’s Often The Most Recent Record
This one may seem obvious, but its important. A death certificate is one of the last records generated by every individual.
If youve been doing genealogy for a while, you have likely heard many experts and educators give you the well-regarded guidance to work backwards.
If this is the first time youve heard this advice, take it to heart: Its the key to creating a sound foundation for your family tree.
The reason its so important to work backwards is to ensure you dont make mistakes. If you were building a tower, you would start by lying a solid, stable foundation that keeps everything above it from tumbling down.
The same principle applies to genealogythe way to create the most correct and satisfying family tree is to work backwards and definitively prove each generation is connected to the previous one.
The most recent generation forms the foundation for your family tree and further research. When you exhaustively research a generation, not only does it become far easier to find records for the previous generation, you’re far less likely to wind up researching the wrong people.
Countless genealogists have wasted years researching a wrong family line due to tackling their research in the wrong orderdont be one of them!
New York City Vital Records
Finding a New York City birth, marriage, or death record can be complicated due to the different territorial and record-keeping histories of each of the five boroughs, which are the Bronx , Brooklyn , Manhattan , Queens , and Staten Island .
The New York City Municipal Archives houses the largest collection of birth, marriage, and death records for New York City, but other collections exist.
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New York Vital Records: Key Facts
There are a couple of crucial facts all researchers should know about locating vital records in New York State.
Fact #1: New York State did not require local governments to report births, marriages, and deaths until 1880.
The history of New York State vital record-keeping is complex and convoluted. For the most part, New York State did not force local governments to track birth, marriage, and death events until the 1880seven after that, many smaller municipalities were not stellar in their compliance.
If you’re looking for a birth, marriage, or death record prior to 1880, you should check with local records offices first, but you may need to ultimately seek a vital record substitute.
Fact #2: Where you look for a vital record will change depending on the year and location of the event you’re investigating.
New York vital records are not all stored in the same location or by the same authority. You will need to investigate sets of vital records in Albany, New York City, or other locations depending on the time period of the event you’re investigating.
This guide includes the following sections:
For an even more comprehensive overview of New York State vital records, see the NYG& B Guide to Birth, Marriage & Death Records available in print in our online store.
What Are The Average Processing Times For New York Death Records
The fastest way to order a New York death record is online. These are considered priority orders and come at an extra cost . The current handling and processing time for online orders is between 5 and 10 days, not including shipping times.
Mail or in-person orders can take several weeks. The current processing times depend on the number of orders, and this can vary widely. For an update on your order status, you can check your application with the Vital Records Mail Order Status form.
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Documents Required To Order A Death Certificate Online
In order to complete the death certificate application, the Health Department requires applicants to prove their identity by including a photocopy of their ID. Usually, it can be used the following documents: drivers license, state ID, passport. Some states require a notarized sworn statement.Check the acceptable IDs of the state you need your vital record here.
If you have lost all your IDs,we prepare a quick guide to know what to do in those cases.
What If Ive Tried To Find A Death Certificate And Cant
There are many good reasons that you simply might not be able to find an official New York death certificate. If you have performed a reasonably exhaustive search, and still come up empty, dont fear!
Its a good idea to do one last review of New York death certificate record keeping practicesstart with our Guide to Finding New York Birth, Marriage, and Death records just to make sure you arent looking in the wrong index, or havent missed another crucial detail in New Yorks complicated vital records landscape.
If youre still having no luck, there is some good newsthere are plenty of substitutes for New York death certificates.
You may want to try searching for New York religious records, especially if your ancestor died prior to the mid 1800sbefore that time, many municipalities in New York viewed vital record keeping as a function of the church, not the state. Read our blog about using New York religious records as vital record substitutes.
Researchers should also consider searching for an ancestors obituary. While not an official state document, the obituary can provide similar information to that of a death certificate, and may even contain more detailafter all, obituary writers were not bound by fields on official documents. Read our blog about obituaries for some tips on finding your ancestors obituary.
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New York Death Certificate
Below is the information you’ll need in order to obtain a death certificate in New York, including qualifications, cost, required information, where to submit your application, and a link to the application you’ll need to fill out.
Note: This information does not apply to the five boroughs of New York City . For a death that occurred in New York City, .
Information On Death Certificates Can Jump
Most official New York death certificates from the 1900s and later will contain a wealth of information that will make it much easier to find more records on your ancestor.
However, its important to note that the information available on a death certificate will vary depending on the time period in which it was created.
New York death certificates can contain the following information:
- Birth date
- Length of residence in the state or county
- Death details
- Informants name
Because a death certificate is created at the conclusion of an individuals life, it is well positioned to capture information on a wide variety of life events. After all, by definition, every single life event happens before a death certificate is made.
Once you have a death certificate, youre armed with excellent leads to investigate more life events of the individualwhether its a birth, marriage, or place of residence.
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New York Public Records
As a resident of the state of New York, you have a statutory right to inspect public records using the state’s Freedom of Information Law . There are no limitations on which members of the public can request records. This ensures that the various governmental bodies in the state operate in a transparent manner and can be kept accountable by the citizens of New York. The state also maintains other records on behalf of its residents which have some access restrictions. The following questions and answers cover the most common types of public records requests in the state.
Are birth records public in New York?
Where can you order a copy of a certified birth certificate in New York?
Are adoption records public in New York?
Are New York marriage records public?
Where can you order a certified copy of a marriage license in New York?
Are divorce records public in New York?
Where can you order divorce decrees, certificates or records in New York?
Are New York death records public?
Social
The Searchquarrycom Death Records Database
In the SearchQuarry.com members area you will find our Vital Records section, and our death records search is in that section. Other vital records searches include birth records, marriage records, and divorce records. Other searches available in the members area include criminal records, court records, lien records, driving records, vehicle records, people search, background checks, and phone number lookups.
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Introduction To New York Birth Marriage And Death Records
Official birth, marriage, and death recordsalso called vital recordsare crucial family history sources that every researcher should seek.
These deep and rich sources can provide names, relationships, locations, dates of events, and other essential details about your family.
Many states in the U.S. have well-organized and complete collections of vital recordsbut not New York!
For many reasons, finding vital records in New York State can be confusing and challenging. The purpose of this guide is to help clarify:
- Where to look for vital records, which depends on the time and place of the event
- How to find the vital record certificate number
- How to locate or request a copy of the vital record
Death Outside Of New York City
If the person died anywhere else in the State of New York the death certificate would need to be ordered directly from the municipality that the death occurred. This could be done by mail by filling out this form or by visiting the registrars office in the municipality. If you opt for this option the municipality will charge $10 per certified copy.
If you arent sure of which municipality the death occurred you could visit the New York State Department of Health to order the certified copies. If you opt for this option the State of New York will charge $30 per certified copy.
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How To Get A Death Certificate In New York
We can facilitate the ordering of death certificate copies. First, you need to complete a simple online application. Second, you will need to pay the state fee and the service fee. Lastly, you will need to send the application package to the state Health Department, where afterwards you will receive the death certificate by mail. The entire process can be done without leaving home.
New York State Birth Certificates
Those seeking New York birth certificates should begin with the state’s index to all birth certificates from 1881. Birth indexes are made available after 75 years, but not all indexes are entirely up to date, and may only go up to the mid-1930s. Another limitation to keep in mind is that not all births were reported in the earlier years of the index – compliance grew over time, and before 1913 was often incomplete in many areas.
The vital records chapter of our New York Family History Research Guide and Gazetteer goes into detail on when compliance started in every area of New York State, and how researchers should handle research in all areas and time periods.
Fortunately, the New York State Birth Index from 1880 – 1942 was recently added as a searchable database on Ancestry.com. Images are also available to browse for free on Internet Archive.
Again, these indexes do not cover several notable locations. New York City birth certificates have always been kept completely separate from vital records of other locations in New York State. See the New York City section of this guide for more information.
Additionally, New York State does not have birth records for Albany, Buffalo, or Yonkers before 1914. Click the name of each municipality to find out about obtaining vital records for your ancestors in these cities.
Once you have found the birth certificate number, you’re ready to request a copy.
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