# death certificate getting

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-certificate-getting/159719>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 7, 2003, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-certificate-getting/159719 "2003-03-07T15:06:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-certificate-getting/159719/1 "2003-03-07T15:06:51Z")

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I threw away my former hsuband’s death certificate years ago becasue his biological mothers name was on it, and I figured if anything happened to me, I wouldn’;t want her near my son.  
How do I get another one?  
I know the city and state it was in, even the date and all.  
But how?

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**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-certificate-getting/159719/2 "2003-03-07T15:09:35Z")

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Usually the county or municipalities dept. of health or records will have it.

Zev Steinhardt

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**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-certificate-getting/159719/3 "2003-03-07T15:12:10Z")

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When my daughter was born, the county’s first attempt at a birth certificate was printed on a death certificate form. We called them on this, and they said, "Oh, don’t worry, that happens all the time. Just cross out where it says “Death” and write in “Live Birth”…

Um… no. We made them replace it.

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**Author:** ![Eliphalet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eliphalet/32/9563_2.png) [@Eliphalet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eliphalet)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-certificate-getting/159719/4 "2003-03-07T15:21:07Z")

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Normally the county courthouse or municipal court will have the original, and can make certified copies upon request.

When my father died, we wound up making about 25 copies to send to the credit card agencies, banks, state commerce department (he ran his own business), mortgage company, etc.

At about $6.00 each for a certified copy, this was not a cheap endeavour…

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**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-certificate-getting/159719/5 "2003-03-07T15:37:17Z")

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This varies by location. Here in VA municipal governments do not track deaths - that is done by the VA Dept. of Health, Bureau of Vital Records.

I’d suggest you check your local “blue pages” (or whatever had government listings in your phone book) and go from there.

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**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-certificate-getting/159719/6 "2003-03-07T16:25:52Z")

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vanilla: You could always check with [http://www.vitalchek.com](http://www.vitalchek.com) to see if you can do this from your computer.