How To Get Death Certificate In New York

How To Get Death Records In New York City

The Vital Records Section of the Health Department of New York City maintains death certificates for persons who die in one of New York City’s five boroughs. There are two types of death certificates:

• The part including a confidential medical report of the cause of death
• The standard certificate of death

While anyone can order the standard certificate of death, the part including a confidential medical report of the cause of death can only be ordered by an eligible person. However, both certificates have the same cost.

To request a copy of a death record in New York City, accurately complete a copy of the death certificate application, or call 311 or 639-9675 to request one if unable to download the application. Ensure to follow all the instructions on the form and calculate the required fee. Each certificate costs $15, although other charges may apply, depending on how the order is placed. The requester must make payment with a money order or personal check payable in US dollars to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Cash payment will not be accepted. Standard first-class US postal service mail is not tracked. A mail-in application should be sent in a self-addressed, stamped envelope together with the fee, necessary documents, and valid ID to:

Office of Vital Records125 Worth Street, CN-4, Room 133New York, NY 10013-4090

Ordering A Copy Of A Death Certificate

To order a copy of a death certificate WITHOUT the confidential medical report:

You can order a copy of a death certificate without the confidential medical report online. The NYC Health Department uses VitalChek, a secure third-party vendor to process internet orders. You will need a personal credit/debit/checking account to order online. Online orders cost $15 for each certificate, plus an $8.30 processing fee for each order.

All Medical Examiner death certificates have the cause of death. If the cause is or manner is Undetermined or Pending further study, contact the Medical Examiners office directly at 447-2030.

You can also order a copy of a death certificate by completing the death certificate application and leaving box #20 blank.

Certificate in other languages:

To order a copy of a death certificate WITH the confidential medical report:

You can order a copy of a death certificate with a confidential medical report by completing the death certificate application and checking box #20.

What information is found on a death certificate?

The following information is found on a NYC death certificate:

How long will it take to process my order?

Below are the average processing times to complete your order.

Allow an additional two weeks for death certificates from years 1949 to 1970, or for any other record that requires searching.

If you have not received your order after the estimated processing times noted above, call:

Coronavirus Outbreak

How Do I Get A Death Certificate Application For Death Record Rev 08 2021pdf

The New Hartford Registrar of Vital Records maintains death records for all deaths that have occurred within the Village and Town of New Hartford, New York, including the hamlets of Chadwicks and Washington Mills, from 1885 to present.

To obtain a death certificate from the Town of New Hartford, please follow the instructions:

Also Check: How Much Are The Tolls From Virginia To New York

How Long Does It Take To Get A Death Certificate In New Mexico

. Moreover, how long does it take to get a death certificate in NM?

It is normally available 10 working days after the death certificate is released to the funeral home. The autopsy and toxicology reports may take up to 12 weeks before being released. However, every case is unique and it may take longer to complete the necessary reports.

Secondly, how long does it take to get a death certificate in Wisconsin? Copies of death certificates are available from the State Vital Records Office no less than 3 weeks from the date of the death. file. requests for uncertified copies may take up to 1 month to complete. Requests for certified copies of death certificates may take up to 2 weeks plus mail time to complete.

Also know, how do I find out if someone died in New Mexico?

Certified New Mexico Death RecordsTo make an in person request for death records in New Mexico, visit a local New Mexico Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics office, complete the search application, present a copy of a valid photo ID, and pay the nominal fee.

Where can I get death records?

How to Find the Vital Records Office. To order copies of a death certificate, contact the county or state vital records office in the place where the death occurred. They will tell you exactly what you need to do.

New York State Vital Records

New York State has created indexes to births, marriages, and deaths occurring after 1880 for locations outside of New York City.

State coverage for Albany, Buffalo, and Yonkers does not begin until 1914. If youâre seeking a birth, marriage, or death record for an ancestor in one of those locations before 1914, click the name of each municipality for tips on finding records before 1914.

Researchers with ancestors anywhere else in New York State can get their ancestorâs vital record in two steps:

• Locate the certificate number in a New York State vital records index
• Use the certificate number found in the index to request the record

These records are only available to the public after a certain period of time, which varies depending on the record and the researcherâs relation to the person of interest. Read on for a general overview of each type of record and where to find the indexes you need to get started.

Don’t Miss: New York State Public Arrest Records

What Documentation Is Needed To Prove Eligibility

When submitting your application, you need to share documentation and identification. This verifies your identity, relationship with the deceased, and indicates that you have a lawful claim to the record. Any of the following will work:

• Drivers license
• State-issued ID card
• Passport
• Military ID

If you cant provide one of the above photo IDs, you can also show two utility bills or letters from a government agency dated within the last six months. You also need to include an official letter, court order, or authorization document to show your eligibility if youre not an immediate family member.

Who Signs A Death Certificate

Generally, a funeral home or other person in charge of the deceaseds remains completes a death certificate. If you are in charge or gathering information to prepare a death certificate in New York, however, then you will have to do so quickly, by knowing how to obtain a death certificate in New York.

As part of the process, you will have to obtain the signature of one of the following.

• Certifying physician
• Pronouncing and certifying physician
• Medical examiner/coroner

An official signature on the death certificate by one of the three professionals mentioned above is required for the certificate to be considered official.

Also Check: How To Pay A Ticket Online New York

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!

How Do I Obtain New York Death Records By Telephone

Only a few places in the United States allow you to request for death certificates by telephone and New York is one of them. To make a telephone request for New York Death Records, call vitalcheck, an independent company contracted by the New York State Department of Health, at 1-877-854-4481, provide the required information, and pay the relevant fee through credit card. In addition to the application fee, Vitalcheck will charge you $8 processing fee.

Don’t Miss: Ny State Car Registration

Some Death Certificate Extracts Exist Online

Fortunately for researchers, New York death certificates are mostly possible to find online. For individuals outside of New York City, researchers should first consult that New York State Death Index .

After finding your ancestor in this index, you can order a copy from the State Archives in Albany, though the wait time for the full certificate can be extensive. It may also be possible to find a copy of the certificate from a more local municipality. For more guidance on this, see our Guide to Finding New York Birth, Marriage, and Death Records.

Those researching ancestors who died in New York City can hope to find more immediate success. Several online indexes are available, and the most robust can be found on Ancestry.com.

This index comes with a significant amount of extracted information from each certificate, including many of the pieces of information that make a death certificate so worthy of finding in the first place. You can read more about the exact coverage in our article about these new collections when they debuted, New NYC Birth, Marriage, and Death Indexes Now Available.

And of course, our Guide to Finding New York Birth, Marriage, and Death Records has links to all other New York City Death Indexes. Full certificates can also be ordered from New York City, and wait times are not as long as those ordered from the State Archives in Albany.

Are New York Death Certificates Public Record

In New York state, death certificates are not public records. They are protected vital records, which means you need to be an immediate family member or have a legal claim to access these documents.

The only exception to this is records over 50 years old. In New York state, death records become public record once theyre 50 years old. Theyre then made available through the New York State Archives.

Also Check: Italian Consulate Renew Passport

Of All Vital Records Death Certificates Have The Highest Chance Of Existing

Unlike many other states, New York birth, marriage, and death records can be challenging to find.

Towns and cities didnt always comply with record keeping laws until the early 1900s, and New York City vital records are kept entirely separate from those that belong to people from other areas of New York State.

The opening section of our Guide to Finding New York Birth, Marriage, and Death Records has more detail on this interesting subject.

The good news is that of the types of vital recordsbirth certificates, marriage records, and death certificatesNew York death certificates are often the easiest to find.

As a general rule, vital record keeping across the state gradually improved over time. Therefore, no matter when your ancestor lived, record keeping was far better when they died than when they were born, in almost all cases.

Thats certainly no guarantee an official New York death certificate exists, but its usually safe to assume its the more likely to exist than a birth or marriage record .

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.

Don’t Miss: Tolls From Va To Ny

How Do I Obtain New York Death Records Online

Just like the telephone requests, the online requests for the New York Death Records have to be made to New York Vitalcheck. To make an online request for the aforementioned form, visit the website of Vitalcheck, and submit an online request for the record. Once you?ve submitted a request, VitalChek will send you a confirmation email asking you to verify your identity. After you submit the required documents, VitalCheck will take 1 to 2 days to process your application and provide you the death record you want

Another way to obtain death records in New York is online through public databases. To find out more about how you can obtain death records in New York, call Vital Records Division of the New York State Department of Health at 855-322-1022.

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

Read Also: How To Register A Car In Ny

How To Request New York State Vital Record Certificates

Once you have retrieved information about the record you are seeking, you can obtain a copy of the vital record certificate by contacting either:

• The New York State Department of Health
• The local registrar or municipal clerk

Whatâs the difference?

• Requests to the New York State Department of Health can take at least eight months to process, but you will receive the official state record.
• Requests through a local registrar or municipal clerk are often answered sooner, but may not have all the information found on the state record.

Ordering a certificate from the New York State Department of Health

**Note: As of early 2020, researchers are experiencing very long wait times for genealogical records requests from the NYS Department of Health. We advise seeking records from local authorities or seeking vital record substitutes.**

The New York State Department of Health will provide uncertified copies in the following instances:

• Birth certificates can be requested after 75 years if the person whose name is on the birth certificate is known to be deceased.

• Death certificates can be requested after 50 years.

If you are a direct-line descendant , then these time periods are waived, but all researchers will need to provide:

• Proof of their relationship to the person whose record they are requesting.

• Proof of the death of the person whose birth certificate they are requesting.

• Proof of the death of both spouses whose marriage certificate they are requesting.

How Long To Keep Records After Death

There are presently no state laws or regulations that define how long a death record should be kept after a deceased’s death, but it is necessary to keep a death record permanently because it is regarded as official evidence of the death. In addition, the IRS statute of limitations for a tax return audit is generally within three years, implying that the IRS may randomly audit a deceased’s tax returns for the following three years after death. The deceased’s death record is required to facilitate the audit. Despite this, it is advisable to keep all financial records for at least seven years after the death before getting rid of them.

Recommended Reading: New York Car Registration

Deaths From 1898 Thru 1965

After 1898, death records for New York City are available from the New York City Municipal Archives and are organized by Borough. Records for this time period are also available on microfilm from FamilySearch.

OPTION ONE: Find Death Information and Certificates Online

An online index for Manhattan deaths from 1864 thru 1897 does exist. Deaths from earlier time periods are available on microfilm. If you do not find your ancestor’s death or if you want order a copy of the certificate, contact the New York City Municipal Archives.

See list of restrictions for ordering death records

If you do not want to order the death record, you can search other records with death information.

PART B: You don’t know the year or have a certificate number

If you do not know the exact year and certificate number, the New York City Municipal Archives will search for the record for a fee.

See list of restrictions for ordering death records

If you do not want to order the death record, you can search other records with death information.