The Data, Research and Vital Statistics office of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention issues the state certified copies from 220 Capitol Street in Augusta. Its request documents page offers three routes and describes the counter first: walk ins are welcome between nine in the morning and four in the afternoon, service is usually same day, and on occasion there may be up to a twenty four hour turnaround. Applicants complete an application on arrival, show identification and pay, and the office takes cashier cheques, money orders and the major cards.
The fees come from Chapter 7 of the department rules, and the office states that it has no authority to waive them. Fifteen dollars buys a search of the files for one year before and one year after the stated date of the event, with one certified copy if the record is located, and that fee is charged for each search conducted whether or not anything is found. Each additional certified copy of the same record requested at the time of the search costs six dollars. Maine, the office says, is a closed record state: vital records are not public records. Local offices that issue vital records appear on the Maine county pages.
- Fifteen dollars, three years wide: the search covers the year stated plus one either side, and includes one copy if the record is found.
- Six dollars for extras: each additional certified copy of the same record ordered at the time of the search.
- A closed record state: vital records are not public, and an applicant not named on the record documents a direct and legitimate interest.
- Free for veterans benefits: one certified copy of any vital record used to determine eligibility carries no fee.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Maine's own systems: the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention request documents page, the centre vital records pages, the Division of Public Health Systems page on ordering records, the federal guidance on where to write for Maine vital records, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Proving a direct and legitimate interest
An applicant named on the record needs only the application, identification and the fee. Everyone else has to document a direct and legitimate interest, and the documentation must be an original or a notarised copy. The office publishes the examples rather than leaving it vague. A spouse shows the marriage certificate, a registered domestic partner the partnership certificate, a guardian the court issued guardianship papers. Family not named on the record, which the office lists as grandparents, siblings, stepparents, stepchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and parents in law, show proof of lineage.
An attorney or agent shows a release form from the person represented, or proof of a contract naming both. A person needing the record for a creditor, a mortgage lender, a note holder, social security or an insurer shows a letter from that company on its letterhead saying why the record is needed. Someone clearing a motor vehicle title shows a registration carrying both names. And two groups are shut out by name: media representatives and commercial firms, other than those conducting health, medical or social research.
Lineage, and the DNA exception
Where lineage has to be proved, certified copies of vital records are the primary documents, and the office adds a provision few states have written down: a registrant aged eighteen or over may present a notarised report of DNA testing results as an acceptable primary document in order to obtain a vital record of a parent who is not named on the registrant own birth certificate. Where primary documents are not available, two secondary documents are required, chosen from a hospital or physician record of birth or death, a baptismal record, school enrolment records, military records, court records, a federal census enumeration record, or another supporting document approved by the State Registrar.
A municipal clerk or the department may verify the authenticity of anything presented where there is reasonable cause to question its validity or accuracy.
Identification, or two documents instead
Every applicant completes an application declaring their name and their connection with the person listed on the record, then proves who they are with a driving licence, a passport or another government issued picture identification card. Where none of those exists, Maine accepts photocopies of two items from a notably long list: a utility bill, a bank statement, a car registration, a copy of an income tax return, a personal cheque showing an address, a previously issued vital record or marriage licence, a letter from a government agency requesting the record, a corrections department card, a social security card, a military discharge form, a hospital birth worksheet, a lease or rental agreement, a pay stub or annual wage statement, a voter registration card, a state or federal health insurance card, a private, public, college or employee photo identification, or a disability award. The same requirements apply whether the copy wanted is certified or not.
Applying by post, and when to chase it
A postal application needs five things: the completed application form, a copy of valid government issued picture identification bearing the applicant signature, proof of eligibility where the applicant is not the registrant or a parent named on the certificate, a self addressed stamped envelope, and the exact fee by cheque or money order payable to the Treasurer, State of Maine. Cash is not to be sent, and applications received without identification and payment are returned unprocessed rather than held.
The office asks for a telephone number or email address in case more information is needed, gives an average processing time of five to seven business days from the date the application reaches it, and makes one request that saves everyone time: do not telephone to check the status of an order until the cheque has been cashed.
What the online route costs
Online orders run through the independent company the office has partnered with, which charges a processing fee of fifteen dollars fifty for each order on top of the state fees, and offers free standard postal delivery or express courier at rates rising from a two to three day service to a priority overnight delivery, with an extra charge for an alternate delivery location. One limitation applies to family history: at the moment the company can only process requests for grandparents and prior generations by telephone rather than through the website.
The office also states plainly that it does not endorse any other internet ordering service, which is its answer to the resellers that advertise around the state name.
Genealogists and the researcher card
Maine turns genealogical access into a licence. A researcher identification card costs fifty dollars and is valid for one year from the date of issue, and a genealogist presenting identification and a valid card is treated as having a direct and legitimate interest. The card comes with an allowance: the first three records in a request are provided at no cost, with a limit of one request of three records a week, and each additional record after those three costs ten dollars.
The archives material has its own line in the schedule too. Where a record from between 1892 and 1955 is available on microfilm in the Maine State Archives research room but the film is illegible, the office will supply a non certified copy for twenty five dollars, which is not a legal document.
Adoption, amendments and the sixty dollar jobs
Several services carry a single flat fee of sixty dollars, which covers the preparation and one certified copy of the resulting record. They are a delayed birth certificate, a legitimation, a court ordered legal name change, an amendment, correction or completion of any vital record, the addition of a parent name to a birth certificate on a judgment of parentage, a certified divorce decree or a child protective order, a new birth certificate following an adoption of a registrant born in Maine or abroad or the recognition of a foreign adoption, and the processing of an adoption finalised in Maine for a registrant born in another state.
Adult adoptee access is priced separately and much lower, at ten dollars each for a non certified copy of the legal portion of the original birth record, for a copy of the medical history form if one is available, and for contact preference information if available. A court ordered opening of a sealed adoption record costs twenty five dollars. All of these, along with foreign born registration, single or marital status letters and corrections, are by appointment only.
Questions about Maine birth certificates
Related Maine records
Maine's other records guides on this site are the Maine public records law guide for the Freedom of Access Act, the Maine death records guide for the same office, the Maine court records guide for the judicial branch records, and the Maine county pages for every county office.