Rhode Island Death Certificates

Ordering Rhode Island Death Certificates Online

Order Death Certificates Here

General Information on Ordering Rhode Island Death Certificates

The Office of Vital Records is the State agency that is responsible for the registration and permanent filing of the vital records of the 39 cities and towns of Rhode Island. The Office of Vital Records is also responsible for the maintenance of these records, and the periodic publication of data derived from them.

Vital records are confidential. Therefore, only those individuals who have what is called a "Direct and Tangible Interest" in the records may have access to records. The following individuals and/or groups make-up those having direct and tangible interest:

• The person named on the certificate, a member of his/her immediate family, his guardian, or an authorized agent of these individuals; or

• Attorneys-at-law, title examiners, or members of legally incorporated genealogical societies, in the conduct of their official duties; or

• Persons requiring information for the determination or protection of a personal or property right; or

• A person who has been granted a court order instructing the registrar to provide disclosure.

Information for Genealogists

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

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

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

• Rhode Island Obituaries - find obituaries from Rhode Island newspapers.

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