Tennessee Death Certificates

Ordering Tennessee Death Certificates Online

Order Death Certificates Here

General Information on Ordering Tennessee Death Certificates

The Tennessee Office of Vital Records registers and maintains the original certificates of births, deaths, marriages and divorces that occur in Tennessee. Certified copies of the original records are available to the person named on the record and to certain family members or legal representatives.

Most information from Tennessee births, deaths, marriages, and divorces is public information. Requests for the public information should be made in writing to the Vital Records office. You must provide enough information so that our staff can locate the record for which you want the public information.

Death records are available for the past 50 years (beginning with January 1, 1953, deaths). The fee is $7.00 per certified copy. The cause of death is not normally included on a certified copy unless specifically requested and then is available only to certain family members or legal representatives.

Some earlier birth and death records are available at the Tennessee State Archives. Early Tennessee county records including marriages can also be obtained from the Tennessee State Library and Archives.

Information for Genealogists

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

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

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

• Tennessee Obituaries - find obituaries from Tennessee newspapers.

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