The Office of Vital Records in the Minnesota Department of Health takes orders by post and fax, and states plainly that it offers no in person service. Its vital records page then sends people elsewhere for speed: for the fastest service, request records in person at a county vital records office, where most of the time the order is completed while the requester waits, and where identification can be shown and forms signed in front of county staff rather than a notary. The department holds birth records since 1900 and death records since 1908, with a birth before 1900 held by the county where it occurred.
Two documents are issued from the same record. A birth certificate is a certified legal document printed on security paper and costs twenty six dollars. An informational noncertified birth record is printed on plain paper, is meant for informational purposes only, and costs thirteen. Fees are due when the request is submitted and are non refundable even where the office cannot locate the record, in which case a no record found statement is sent. Local offices that issue vital records appear on the Minnesota county pages.
- Twenty six or thirteen: the certified certificate on security paper, or the plain paper informational record.
- Free for two groups: a homeless youth ordering through the published packet, and a certificate for Veterans Administration purposes.
- Counties are faster: the department has no counter at all, and a county office usually issues while you wait.
- Married or not decides access: records of children born to married parents are public, the rest confidential unless the parent chose otherwise.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Minnesota's own systems: the Minnesota Department of Health vital records and certificates page, the department page on available records and services, the department page on who can order records, the federal guidance on where to write for Minnesota vital records, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Public records and confidential ones
Minnesota divides its birth records by the marital status of the parents at the time of the birth. The birth records of children born to married parents are public, which means anyone may buy a noncertified informational copy of them. The birth records of children born to unmarried parents are confidential, unless the birth parent chose to make the record public at the time of birth. For a confidential record, both the certificate and the informational copy are restricted to a short list: the subject of the record, who must be aged sixteen or older or a homeless youth; a parent named on the record; a legal custodian, guardian or conservator with a copy of the court order naming them; a person with a valid court order directing release, which may not be a subpoena; and representatives of the named state programmes administering child support, medical assistance and related services, on production of employee identification. All Minnesota death records are public.
The eligibility table for certificates
Even for a public record, a certified certificate goes only to an eligible requester, and the department publishes the whole list with the documentation each one needs. No extra documents are required from the subject of the record, a parent named on it, a child, a current spouse, a grandparent or great grandparent, a grandchild or great grandchild, a personal representative or successor who needs the certificate to administer the estate, or a sibling in the case of a death certificate.
Documents are required from a legal custodian, guardian or conservator, who supplies the court order; a health care agent, who supplies a valid health care power of attorney; a person or entity needing the certificate to determine or protect a personal or property right, who documents the claim; an adoption agency completing a post adoption search required by law; an attorney, who gives a Minnesota licence number or a copy of an out of state licence; a government agency representative; and anyone holding a court order.
Sending somebody in your place
An authorised representative of any eligible requester may collect the certificate, and the department sets out exactly what the authorisation must say. It is a signed statement from the eligible requester that specifies the signer relationship to the subject of the record, provides enough information to identify the vital record, identifies the representative by name, and grants the representative permission to obtain the certificate on the signer behalf.
All four elements are needed, which makes a vague letter of authority useless. The same page warns that it is illegal to give false information to obtain a vital record, and that doing so may bring fines, jail time, or both.
The notary, and the way round it
Every certificate requester must provide identification and sign the request form attesting to their eligibility, either in front of a notary public or in front of county vital records staff. That is the real argument for using a county office: the county clerk witnesses the signature, so no notary is needed. Ordering by post or fax means finding one, and the department suggests where to look, noting that notary services can often be found for a fee at banks, some libraries and mailbox and copy shops.
For a requester with no acceptable identification there is a further route: a witness may complete the published statement to identify form, swearing to the requester identity.
What each service costs
Beyond the twenty six dollar certificate and the thirteen dollar informational record, the schedule prices the rest of the work. A verification of birth facts, which is a noncertified document confirming that a Minnesota birth record exists for a specific person, costs nine dollars, as does a summary of birth record changes listing the amendments made to a record. A birth record amendment costs forty dollars, as does a delayed registration of a birth more than a year after it occurred, and as does the noncertified original birth record and related documents issued to an adopted person under the statute.
A noncertified original birth record before adoption, requested by parents, tribal representatives or someone holding a court order, costs thirteen. A death certificate costs thirteen dollars. Several of these, including amendments and the adoption documents, are available only from the department rather than from a county.
Fees banked before the search
Minnesota is explicit about the order of events, and it is not in the applicant favour. Fees are due when the request is submitted, they are non refundable even where the office cannot locate the requested records or otherwise fulfil the order, and the department deposits them the day it receives them, before reviewing and processing the request. Where nothing matches the information given, the requester receives a no record found statement rather than a refund.
The department publishes its current processing dates, showing the date of the orders it has completed and mailed for each service, so a requester can see how far behind the office is before deciding between the postal route and a county counter.
Searching before you order
Four free or cheap research options exist for anyone unsure of a date. Visitors to the Minnesota Historical Society Gale Family Library in Saint Paul can ask library staff to search the state vital records system. The historical society also runs an online people records search covering birth records from 1900 to 1934 and death records from 1904 to 2001. Some county offices have public viewing stations that visitors can use to look up births and deaths in the state system, and the directory of county offices shows which ones.
And the department keeps an index for verifying a death that occurred in 1997 or later. One limit applies everywhere: vital records offices cannot accept emailed applications or transmit purchased vital records electronically, so the document itself always arrives on paper. Order forms are published in Spanish, Somali, Hmong and Karen as well as English, and apostilles are handled by the Secretary of State rather than by the health department.
Questions about Minnesota birth certificates
Related Minnesota records
Minnesota's other records guides on this site are the Minnesota public records law guide for the Government Data Practices Act, the Minnesota death records guide for the same office, the Minnesota court records guide for the judicial branch records, and the Minnesota county pages for every county office.