Vermont Death Certificates

Ordering Vermont Death Certificates Online

Order Death Certificates Here

General Information on Ordering Vermont Death Certificates

In Vermont, statewide vital registration began in 1857, when the General Assembly passed a bill requiring that towns report to the Secretary of State all births, marriages, and deaths occurring in their jurisdiction. Prior to that time, some towns kept such records in order to resolve questions concerning the distribution and inheritance of property. Vital records, particularly death records, gradually became recognized as an important tool in studying the location and spread of epidemics. In 1896, the Legislature transferred responsibility for the vital statistics system to the newly formed Board of Health, the forerunner of the Vermont Department of Health. The Health Department has retained this responsibility to the present day.

Although a physician is responsible for filing the death certificate, the job may be, and often is, delegated to the funeral director. Most of the information needed to complete the death certificate is obtained from the family of the deceased. A physician, however, must complete the cause of death information and sign the death certificate. The funeral director files the completed certificate with the town clerk who sends a certified copy to the Health Department.

The Health Department keeps the most recent five years of records. After five years, records are transferred to Public Records. Therefore, certified copies of births, deaths and other vital events that occurred within the past five years are available from the Health Department; older records are available from Public Records.

Information for Genealogists

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

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

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

• Vermont Obituaries - find obituaries from Vermont newspapers.

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