The Division of Vital Records Administration sits in the Archives and Records Building at 9 Ratification Way in Concord, and its holdings run back further than any other state register, to 1631. It is not the only counter. A birth that occurred from 1935 onwards may be obtained from any city or town clerk running the state vital records system, not merely the clerk of the town where the birth happened, so a resident of one town can often collect a certificate at their own town hall rather than travelling to Concord.
The money is set by statute rather than by a fee schedule. RSA 5-C:10 requires a town clerk or the registrar to be paid fifteen dollars in advance for making a search, which includes the issue of a copy or a verification, and ten dollars for each subsequent copy. The companion section adds the two conditions that matter: the search fee is payable regardless of whether the record is found, and it includes one certified copy only if a copy is wanted and the requester has been determined to have a direct and tangible interest. Local offices that issue vital records appear on the New Hampshire county pages.
- Fifteen dollars to search: one certified copy included where the interest test is met, ten dollars for each later copy, paid in advance.
- Any town clerk from 1935: a birth from that year on can be issued by any city or town running the state system.
- Public before 1901: birth records earlier than that are public records by statute, with other records public before 1948.
- The original record for adoptees: an adult adoptee may obtain a non certified copy of the unaltered original birth certificate.
Written by SearchSystems.net from New Hampshire's own systems: the New Hampshire fee statute, RSA 5-C:10, the search fee statute, RSA 5-C:100, the disclosure and direct and tangible interest statute, RSA 5-C:102, the disclosure of information statute, RSA 5-C:9, the Secretary of State vital records pages, the federal guidance on where to write for New Hampshire vital records, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Where the fifteen dollars goes
New Hampshire publishes the split, which explains why the town clerk route exists at all. Of each search fee a clerk collects, eight dollars is forwarded to the department of state for the vital records improvement fund and seven is retained as the clerk fee for issuing the copy. For each subsequent copy issued at the same time, five dollars goes to the fund and five stays with the clerk. The twenty five dollar fee for examining documents and issuing a delayed birth certificate is retained in full by the clerk.
Fees the registrar collects go to the state treasurer for the same fund. There is one fee that can be avoided: a correction or amendment to a birth, marriage or death record costs ten dollars paid to the town clerk, and the statute waives it where the error was made by the clerk.
Who has a direct and tangible interest
The statute names eight categories. The registrant; a member of the registrant immediate family; the registrant legal guardian; the registrant legal representative, which the chapter defines to include an attorney, physician, funeral director or other authorised agent acting for the applicant or the family; a person demonstrating a need for information for the determination or protection of a personal or property right; members of the press, radio, television and other news media, where the information requested is of a public nature; a person authorised by the immediate family to conduct genealogical research; and the spouse of a divorced or legally separated person seeking copies of that record.
Two exclusions follow. Commercial firms or agencies requesting a listing of names and addresses do not have a direct and tangible interest. And the natural parents of a child adopted outside their own immediate family are not treated as having an interest in the adopted child vital records.
Making a claim, and appealing a refusal
Anyone outside the immediate family can still obtain a record, but has to make a case. A claim by an individual, by an attorney, or by an agent working on behalf of an attorney is reviewed by either the state registrar or the clerk of the town or city, and the statute says what must be in it: a letter from the requester describing and documenting the claim, stating what record is required and why it is needed, together with any other evidence the requester wishes to submit, and positive identification such as a driving licence, a passport or other picture identification.
If the evidence substantiates the claim to the satisfaction of the registrar or clerk, access is approved. If it does not, access is denied, and the requester may appeal the decision. An attorney or an attorney agent has two extra duties: to identify themselves as a member of the legal profession by business card, business stationery or similar means, and to state the name of the client in the request.
Adoptees and the contact preference form
On written application an adult adoptee who was born in New Hampshire, and whose original birth certificate was removed from the records because of an adoption, is entitled to a non certified copy of the unaltered original certificate of birth, with procedures, filing fees and waiting periods identical to those imposed on non adopted citizens of the state. Around that right the statute builds a mechanism for the birth parent. The registrar prescribes a contact preference form, available on request to each birth parent named on the original certificate, offering three choices: that the birth parent would like to be contacted, that they would prefer to be contacted only through an intermediary, or that they would prefer not to be contacted at this time.
Each choice is filed with an updated medical history form, and when both arrive the registrar matches them to the adoptee sealed birth certificate and attaches them to it, with only an authorised person permitted to process either form.
Free copies, and the notation on the face
Federal, state or local government agencies may request certified copies by special arrangement outside the ordinary fee rules. Law enforcement officials, court officials and representatives of the attorney general who demonstrate a direct and tangible interest obtain access case by case, and the division issues their certified copies at no charge. One free copy carries a mark that explains itself: where a clerk or the division issues a free copy to the federal veterans administration, the registrar notes on the face of the copy that the certified copy is issued to be used solely in connection with a veterans claim application and processing, which prevents the document from circulating as general identification.
The heirloom and foreign birth certificates
Two optional documents have their own statutory prices. On request and payment of the fee, the registrar supplies an applicant with a direct and tangible interest a decorative heirloom certificate of any birth or marriage registered with the division, for twenty five dollars, of which fifteen goes to the vital records improvement fund. Separately, the registrar establishes a New Hampshire certificate of foreign birth for a person born in a foreign country for whom a final decree of adoption has been issued by a court in this state, and registers it and issues a certified copy on receiving a request, a fee of twenty five dollars from the adoptive parents or from the adopted person once over eighteen, and the report of the adoption.
A birth that was never registered
For a living person allegedly born in New Hampshire whose birth is not registered in any New Hampshire city or town, at the division, or in a bordering state, the route is a delayed certificate of birth. The registrant, or a parent or legal guardian, applies in writing or in person to the clerk of the city or town where the birth allegedly occurred, submitting the form the division prescribes, the documentary evidence the statute requires, and the statutory fee, which for the examination and issue is the twenty five dollars the clerk retains.
On the ordinary application side, a written request for a certified copy is made by post or in person at the division or at a clerk office, and telephone or facsimile requests are acceptable only where payment is made through an electronic fee system. Federal guidance adds the practical contents of a postal envelope: the written request, photo identification carrying the requester signature, a self addressed stamped envelope, and payment by personal cheque or money order payable to the Treasurer, State of New Hampshire.
Questions about New Hampshire birth certificates
Related New Hampshire records
New Hampshire's other records guides on this site are the New Hampshire public records law guide for the Right to Know Law, the New Hampshire death records guide for the same division, the New Hampshire court records guide for the judicial branch case access, and the New Hampshire county pages for every county office.