The Wisconsin Vital Records Office files, preserves, changes and issues the state's birth, death, marriage and divorce certificates, along with records of declaration and termination of domestic partnerships. Its vital records pages note that in person counter services are closed, so the state office now takes requests only by post, online through the company it uses for that purpose, or by telephone through the same company, with online orders completed in about five business days and an extra fee charged by the vendor.
The counters that remain are local. Wisconsin has seventy two county Register of Deeds offices and two city health offices, in Milwaukee and West Allis, that also issue vital records, although the department notes that not all records are available at every office and directs applicants to each office's own information. For anyone who knows the county where the birth was registered, the Register of Deeds is the quickest route. Local offices that issue vital records appear on the Wisconsin county pages.
- Twenty dollars a search period: each five year single year index period, and each multiyear index, counts as one twenty dollar search.
- Forty dollars for a decade: a search from 1910 through 1919 is two periods, which is how an uncertain date doubles the bill.
- No counter at the state: in person service has closed, leaving post, online and telephone, plus seventy two county offices.
- Long form free on request: the long form costs no extra, but the application has to say so.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Wisconsin's own systems: the Wisconsin Department of Health Services vital records pages, the department's page on requesting a vital record, the department's application forms, the department's page on local vital records services, the department's genealogy research policy, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
How the search fee actually works
Wisconsin does not charge per certificate so much as per block of years. For births, any five year period from October 1, 1907 through 1947 is covered by single year indexes and counts as one search at twenty dollars. Two further blocks are treated as multiyear indexes, each charged as a single search at the same fee: the earliest filed records through September 1907, and 1948 to the present. An applicant may ask for more periods to be searched, and each additional five year period or multiyear index adds another twenty dollars.
The department's own example makes the arithmetic plain: searching for a birth certificate from 1910 through 1919, which is ten years of single year indexes, costs forty dollars. The same structure governs the other record types with different cut off years, running to 1958 for deaths, 1972 for marriages, and from 1936 to 1964 for divorces, each with its own multiyear blocks.
Common surnames, and what to add
Because the fee buys a search rather than a document, the office asks for extra detail where the name is common. Its guidance is explicit: a request for a birth certificate for a person with a common last name such as Anderson, Johnson or Smith must include more identifying information, which could be the place of birth or the parents' names, and applicants should include as much information as possible to help the search. The same advice applies to the other record types, with the place of death, the name of a spouse or the county suggested according to the certificate sought. Supplying that detail at the outset is cheaper than paying for a second search.
Certified, uncertified, short form and long form
Wisconsin issues more than one version of the same record, and the differences matter. A certified copy is the identity document. An uncertified copy carries the same information but is printed on plain white paper and bears a stamp showing it cannot be used for legal or identification purposes, which makes it a research document. On length, the department says short form birth certificates work for most legal and identification purposes, and lists what they contain: the person's name, sex, birth date and place of birth, together with the parents' names, ages or birthdates and birthplaces.
The long form carries more, and it costs nothing extra, but the applicant has to ask by writing long form on the application. On the death side, the extended fact of death certificate adds the location, the manner and cause of death and the final burial place, and is the version insurers usually want, with a restriction for deaths less than fifty years old: the applicant must be a direct descendant or have a direct and tangible interest.
Identification, and what to do without it
The office asks for easy to read copies of original identification rather than the originals themselves, and will not accept expired documents. Two situations have their own answer. Where the person listed on the record does not have acceptable identification, that person may write a statement, signed by them, allowing someone else to apply on their behalf; the statement goes with the application and the person completing it sends their own identification.
And where a parent wants a child's record, the department's advice is to ask for a certified copy in the parent's own name, entering their details in the applicant section and submitting their own identification, rather than trying to apply as the child.
Apostilles, non marriage letters and partnerships
An apostille for a Wisconsin record is assembled in one envelope, which saves a step. The applicant sends the vital records application, identification and fee together with the apostille order form, its fee and a self addressed stamped envelope bearing the return address of the Secretary of State or the Department of Financial Institutions, all to the Vital Records Office, which passes the issued certificate on for authentication.
Where a marriage search finds nothing, the office issues a notarized letter of non marriage, which is proof that no certificate of marriage is on file and is often what a foreign authority wants before a wedding abroad. Domestic partnership records, both declarations and terminations, can be searched on the name of one partner and a year range even where the applicant does not have everything the application asks for.
Amendments, adoptions and research
The office publishes separate guidance on amending a Wisconsin birth, death or marriage record, on adoptions, and on genealogy research at the state office, including a policy for researchers working on family history rather than ordering certificates. It also publishes a notice about two parent birth certificates for married same sex couples who conceived by artificial insemination, which sets out how both parents are recorded.
Practical planning note: the office publishes its closure dates for the year, and because it no longer serves callers at a counter, a request that arrives during a closure simply waits, so anyone with a deadline should either use a Register of Deeds office or allow for the published five business day turnaround on online orders plus delivery.
Questions about Wisconsin birth certificates
Related Wisconsin records
Wisconsin's other records guides on this site are the Wisconsin public records law guide for the state's open records statutes, the Wisconsin death records guide for the same office, the Wisconsin court records guide for the circuit court access programme, and the Wisconsin county pages for every county office.