Washington Death Certificates

Ordering Washington Death Certificates Online

Order Death Certificates Here

General Information on Ordering Washington Death Certificates

The Washington State Death Certificate System gathers information about each death that occurs in Washington State. Similar information is collected for residents of Washington State who die in another state or country. Thus, the Death Certificate System contains records on all deaths occurring in the state and all deaths to residents of the state.

The Washington State Department of Health, Center for Health Statistics has certificates available from July 1, 1907 to present. For records before July 1, 1907 please refer to the Washington State Archives. For recent records, in the last 3 months, please contact the Local Health Department where the event occurred.

As of June 14th, 2004 Vital Records has an over-the-counter, same-day service in Tumwater. The counter is open to the public 8:00am - 4:30pm Monday through Friday, except State Holidays. For further information please call (360) 236-4300

Ordering By Mail normally takes up to 3 weeks to receive a certified copy of a certificate.

Information for Genealogists

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

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

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

• Washington Obituaries - find obituaries from Washington newspapers.

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