New York Death Certificate: Who Can Order One and How

Ordering a certified copy after a death is one of the procedures covered in New York vital records, IDs, and name changes. This article covers which office holds the record, who qualifies to order one, what the certificate contains, the cost, and how long each ordering method takes.

Which office holds the record

New York runs two separate death registration systems. The NYC Health Department issues certificates for deaths that occur in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island, and it holds nothing for Nassau, Suffolk, or any other county in the state, according to the department’s death certificate page. For a death anywhere else in New York, the record sits with the New York State Department of Health and with the local registrar of the town, city, or village where the death was registered.

The National Center for Health Statistics treats the two as separate jurisdictions in its Where to Write for Vital Records directory, which lists “New York (except New York City)” and “New York City” as different entries with different addresses and fees.

Both offices issue the same legal instrument. What differs is which files get searched, what the search costs, and how long it takes.

Who is entitled to order one

Death records in New York are not public. Under N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 4174(1)(a), the state health commissioner issues a certified copy or certified transcript of a death record to the spouse, domestic partner, children, siblings, or parents of the deceased, to the agent charged with controlling disposition of the remains, or to the lawful representative of one of those people. Anyone outside that group qualifies only by documenting a medical need, by documenting a need to establish a legal right or claim, by court order on a showing of necessity, or as a government agency requesting the record for official purposes. The same section states that certified death records are not subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Law.

New York City splits entitlement into two tiers on its death certificate page. A spouse, domestic partner, parent, child, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, the informant named on the certificate, or the person in charge of disposition may order the certificate together with the confidential cause of death report. A niece, nephew, aunt, uncle, grandniece, grandnephew, great-grandchild, or great-great-grandchild may order the certificate without the cause of death. Everyone else documents their right to the record.

An attorney retained by an entitled party may submit a city order, but paralegals and couriers may not. Those orders travel with the attorney’s letterhead, proof of licensure, the entitled party’s photo ID, and an original authorization letter from that party.

What the certificate contains

A New York City death record has two parts: the standard certificate of death, carrying the name, gender, and date of birth of the deceased, and a confidential medical report giving the cause of death. Most institutions accept the standard certificate alone, and the city charges nothing extra to include the cause of death for a requester entitled to it, per the NYC Health death certificate page.

Medical Examiner cases always include the cause of death. When the cause or manner reads “pending further study,” the city allows the certificate to be exchanged within 90 days of the original issue date without paying the $15 fee again, a rule set out on the same NYC Health page.

City certificates issued since 2019 no longer carry a raised seal. They print on certified security paper, and the security features are described on the reverse of the document itself.

How to order

1. Confirm the office and the year of death

   Deaths in the five boroughs after 1950 go to the NYC Health Department. Pre-1951 city deaths moved to the Municipal Archives at the Department of Records and Information Services, and the city stopped accepting new requests for 1950 certificates on December 1, 2025, transferring those records to the Archives in January 2026. Deaths outside the city go to the state health department or the local registrar.

2. Ask the funeral director first

   When a funeral home handled the arrangements, the funeral director can order certificates on the family’s behalf for up to one year after the death, which is usually the fastest route and avoids a separate identity check. The NYC Health death certificate page describes this as the quickest option when a funeral home is involved.

3. Assemble identification and proof of entitlement

   Orders require valid, unexpired government-issued photo identification and, for anyone not named on the record, documentation of the relationship or the legal claim. The NYC Health ordering page lists the accepted documents and the substitutes available to applicants without a driver license or passport.

4. Choose online, mail, or in person

   VitalChek is the only online vendor the NYC Health Department authorizes, and online city orders are limited to applicants whose own name appears on the record. Mail and in-person city orders use the premium death certificate application below; a slower non-premium application exists for mail orders that skip premium handling.

5. Pay and track

   City fees are paid by card online or in person and by check or money order by mail, since cash is not accepted. The state charges its fee with the application whether or not a record is found, because the payment covers the search itself under N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 4174(2).

Fees and processing times

New York City charges $15 per certificate plus a processing fee that varies by ordering method: $9.30 for online orders, $7.50 by mail, and $2.75 in person, with UPS express delivery available online for an additional $21. Those figures come from the department’s fees and processing times page, current as of 2026.

City processing runs roughly two to three weeks for online and mail orders, with regular mail delivery adding up to two more weeks, and death certificates from 1951 to 1970 taking an extra two weeks because they require a manual search. Non-premium mail requests take 8 to 12 weeks at $15 per certificate with no processing fee, according to the same NYC Health fee schedule.

Outside the city, the fee is statutory rather than administrative. N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 4174(2) sets a $30 fee for each search of the state files and the certified copy or transcript that follows, and subdivision 9 permits an additional $15 charge for priority handling. A local registrar charges $10 per certified copy or transcript under N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 4173(3)(a), though that section lets Chemung, Monroe, Onondaga, and Tompkins counties and the cities of Albany, Jamestown, and Oswego set their own fee up to the $30 state amount.

Genealogy and older records

Research requests follow a different fee schedule. For a search conducted for authorized genealogical or research purposes, N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 4174(3) entitles the state to $20 for each hour or part of an hour of search time, plus $2 for each uncertified copy or abstract, or for a statement that the search found no record. A genealogical copy is uncertified and will not work for a bank, an insurer, or a court.

For city deaths, the dividing line is the year. Records from 1951 forward stay with the NYC Health Department, and earlier ones move to the Municipal Archives, which runs its own search and copy process.

How many copies are typically needed

Each institution that closes an account, pays a benefit, or transfers title generally keeps its own certified copy rather than returning it. Banks, life insurers, pension administrators, title companies, and the Surrogate’s Court in the county handling the estate each tend to require one.

Social Security is a partial exception. A funeral home usually reports the death to the Social Security Administration directly, so survivors often do not file a separate report, though survivor benefit claims are a separate application (Social Security survivor benefits). Ordering several copies in the first request costs less per copy than returning to the same office weeks later, because the search fee is charged per application rather than per certificate in the city system.