The Tennessee Office of Vital Records reviews, registers, amends, issues and maintains the original certificates of births, deaths, marriages and divorces that occur in the state, working from the first floor of the Andrew Johnson Tower in Nashville. Its vital records pages also describe the feature that makes Tennessee easier than most states: all county health departments can issue any birth or death certificate that has been registered statewide with the office, so there is no need to travel to the county where the birth or death occurred.
Two conditions apply at whichever counter is used. Identification is required when the application and the fee are handed over. And where the applicant is not a qualified applicant, meaning a parent, child or spouse, they must present documents supporting their right to the certificate, which the department says can include custody orders, letters of testamentary or insurance policies denoting the beneficiaries. Local offices that issue vital records appear on the Tennessee county pages.
- Fifteen dollars a copy: the standard charge for a certified copy of a Tennessee birth certificate.
- Any county will do: every county health department issues certificates registered statewide, whatever county the birth happened in.
- Qualified means close: the person named on the record, a parent, a spouse or a child; anyone else must document their entitlement.
- Births since 1917: the period county application forms state for Tennessee birth certificates.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Tennessee's own systems: the Tennessee Office of Vital Records, a county health department application for a certified copy of a birth certificate, the federal where to write for vital records page for Tennessee, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
What the application asks
A Tennessee birth certificate application is short but exact. It asks for the name on the birth certificate, broken into first, middle, maiden and current last name, the date of birth, sex and the county of birth within Tennessee. It asks for the father's first and last name and the mother's first name, current last name and maiden name, which is how the office matches the record where a surname has changed. It asks why the certificate is needed, with boxes for a replacement, for a passport or travel, and for anything else.
And it asks for the number of copies, the signature of the person requesting, their relationship as parent, spouse, child, self or other, their complete address and a telephone number. Printed on the form is a warning that it is unlawful to willfully and knowingly make any false statement on the application, and a line stating that a valid state identification is required.
Paying, and what each counter takes
The certificate costs fifteen dollars a copy. At a county health department counter payment may be made by cash, money order, personal cheque made out to that department, or a major credit card, and the forms warn that a returned cheque attracts a separate charge, thirty dollars in the county example published online. A postal application to a county office encloses the completed form, a copy of the applicant's driving licence and a cheque or money order for the fee.
Because the counters draw on the same statewide register, the choice between them is purely practical: the nearest office is usually the fastest, and the state office in Nashville offers free parking on the street beside the tower for those who go there.
Who counts as qualified, and what the rest must show
The department's shorthand for a qualified applicant is a parent, child or spouse, alongside the person named on the certificate. Everyone else has to bring entitlement documents to the counter along with their identification, and the examples the department gives show the kind of thing expected: a custody order for a guardian, letters of testamentary for an executor, an insurance policy denoting the beneficiaries for someone settling a claim.
Bringing the right document at the first attempt matters more in Tennessee than the form itself, because the counter will take the application and the fee only once entitlement is shown.
Registration, and why certificates appear quickly
Tennessee registers its vital events electronically through a system the department calls Vital Records Information System Management, which connects the state office with the hospitals, funeral homes and other partners who report births and deaths. The department explains that the system significantly reduces the time between the occurrence and the registration of a vital event, which is why a newly registered birth becomes orderable sooner than in states still handling paper.
The transition is complete: paper submission of birth certificates has not been accepted since June 24, 2019, and paper submission of death certificates since July 16, 2018.
Corrections, genealogy and the help pages
The office publishes separate guidance on the questions that come up after an order, including how to get a certificate corrected, identification requirements, how long an order will take, the application forms themselves, genealogy requests and fees. A correction travels through the amendment process rather than the ordering counter, and the documents required depend on what is being changed. Genealogy requests are handled separately from certificate orders, which matters for anyone researching family history rather than needing proof of identity, since the restrictions that apply to a certified copy are aimed at identity documents rather than at historical research.
Planning an order
Three things decide how smoothly a Tennessee order goes. Choose the nearest county health department rather than assuming the county of birth is required, since any office can issue a statewide registered record. Bring valid identification and, if the applicant is not the person named or a parent, spouse or child, the entitlement document as well. And complete every field on the application, particularly the mother's maiden name and the county of birth, because those are the fields the office searches on.
For births before the period the state register covers, a county office or the state archives is the right place to ask, and the department's genealogy guidance explains how older material is handled.
Questions about Tennessee birth certificates
Related Tennessee records
Tennessee's other records guides on this site are the Tennessee public records law guide for the Public Records Act, the Tennessee death records guide for the same office, the Tennessee court records guide for the clerks of court, and the Tennessee county pages for every county office.