Iowa Death Certificates

Ordering Iowa Death Certificates Online

Order Death Certificates Here

General Information on Ordering Iowa Death Certificates

All vital events occurring in the state such as birth, death, and marriage, and the bureau has an interstate exchange agreement with all of the other states. The bureau registers approximately 100,000 events and issues about 85,000 certified copies annually.

In Iowa, official registration of births, deaths, and marriages began July 1, 1880. All original records that have been registered are on file with the Iowa Department of Public Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.

All applications for certified copies of vital record events must be in writing and completely identify the record, as well as satisfactorily establish entitlement to the record being requested.

Entitled persons include the person named on the record or that person’s spouse, children, legal parents, grandparents, grandchildren, siblings, or legal representative or guardian. Legal guardians and representatives must also provide additional proof of guardianship or representation.

Certified copies of birth, death, or marriage certificates may be obtained from the state office of vital records by telephone, in-person, or through a postal service.

Requests for the purpose of family history take at least 60 days, regardless of the method of request.

Information for Genealogists

For assistance with your family history research, please do not contact the State of Iowa. Instead please refer to the following websites for help:

• Iowa Birth, Marriage and Death Records - online databases of primary records.

• Iowa Adoption Registry - for help with locating adoptees and birth families from Iowa.

• Iowa Obituaries - find obituaries from Iowa newspapers.

• Social Security Death Index - National database of deaths dating back to the 1940's.