Death Certificate Processing Time

Why a death certificate can take weeks to arrive

There is no single nationwide processing time. Death certificates are issued by the state or local jurisdiction where the death occurred, so the wait depends on three separate things: how quickly the death is registered, how quickly the cause of death is certified, and how long the issuing office then takes to process the request. The table above shows each jurisdiction's own processing estimate.

What has to happen before a certificate can be issued

A certified copy cannot be issued until the death has been registered. The funeral director is normally responsible for completing the death certificate and filing it with the registration official, and for obtaining the cause-of-death information and certification statement from the attending physician or the medical examiner or coroner.

The certifying physician's part is to pronounce the death and, where they were the attending physician, to report the cause of death. Filing has to happen within the time limit set by each state's vital statistics law, and those requirements differ from state to state.

What can extend the wait

Several situations can push a record past the usual estimate:

• A death referred to a medical examiner or coroner. An investigation or autopsy adds steps before the cause of death can be certified.
• A cause of death filed as pending. A certifier may file the certificate with the cause recorded as pending further study while autopsy or investigation results are outstanding, and is then responsible for updating it. The record is amended afterwards through a supplemental report to the state registrar, so an early copy may differ from the final one.
• A very recent death. The record has to be registered with the state before any copy can be issued, so a request made within days of a death can take longer than the same request made later.
• A correction. An error in a name, date or place has to be amended before a corrected copy can be issued.
• Agency workload and ordering channel. Each office sets its own procedures, and in-person, mail and online requests are not always handled on the same schedule.

Government processing time is not total delivery time

The estimate in the table is the issuing agency's processing time only. An order placed through us passes through four separate stages:

1. Our review. We check the application for errors and submit it. This stage is ours, not the state's.
2. Delivery of the application to the issuing office.
3. The issuing agency's processing time. This is the figure in the table above. It is set by that office and we cannot shorten it.
4. Return delivery of the certificate to you.

Expedited shipping shortens delivery, not the agency's review. Where an office offers its own expedited or rush service, the table shows that separately.

Finding the estimate for your jurisdiction

Use the table above and look up the state where the death occurred, which is not necessarily where the person lived or where you live now. Each range is shown in the units the issuing agency publishes, so a state quoting four to six weeks appears here as four to six weeks. Offices can revise their estimates at any time, so confirm with the issuing office before relying on a date.

Related

• Order a death certificate
• Death certificate fees by state
• Why you need a death certificate and how many copies to order

Sources

The description of the registration process above follows the federal handbooks that guide the people who complete and file death certificates:

• CDC/NCHS: Handbooks and guides for use with the U.S. Standard Certificates
• USAGov: How to get a certified copy of a death certificate

Vital Records Online is a private company and is not a government agency. Registration and processing times are set by the issuing authority.