The Registry of Vital Records and Statistics issues only certified copies, whatever the reason for the request, and prices them by how they are ordered. At the counter at 150 Mount Vernon Street in Dorchester a copy costs twenty dollars. By mail it costs thirty two dollars a copy. Through VitalChek, online or by phone at 866-300-8535, the first copy costs fifty four dollars and each additional copy forty two, a price that already includes a twelve dollar VitalChek charge per order. Checks and money orders are made out to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The counter is open Monday to Friday from 8:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., and the two official pages differ on what it takes: the ordering page says check or money order, while the service fee sheet lists cash as well.
Speed runs the other way, and here too the pages disagree. The ordering page says mail orders are processed within thirty business days of arrival, while the fee sheet quotes fifteen to twenty business days for a standard mail request and ten business days for an expedited one, which costs forty two dollars a copy and is addressed to the attention of the Expedited Mail Service. A mail fee buys a ten year search of the files and either the certificate or a Negative Statement. VitalChek orders ship within ten business days, or the next business day for sixty two dollars fifty for the first copy and fifty dollars fifty for each extra, with UPS second day delivery at twelve dollars fifty and next day at nineteen dollars fifty on top. City and town clerks also issue certified copies of deaths in their own community, and they are listed on the Massachusetts county pages.
- Twenty dollars: a certified death certificate bought in person at the Registry in Dorchester, against thirty two by mail and fifty four online.
- July 1, 2026: the date a change to chapter 46, section 1 of the General Laws took the full Social Security number off death certificates for most requesters.
- Three dollars: what the Massachusetts Archives charges to certify a death record from 1841 to 1935.
- Twenty weeks or more: the archives' own estimate of its wait for certified copies, caused by a surge in dual citizenship requests.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Massachusetts's own systems: the Massachusetts page on ordering a certificate from the Registry of Vital Records and Statistics, the Registry's vital records service fee sheet, the Registry's hours, parking and directions page, the Registry of Vital Records and Statistics, the Massachusetts page on amending or correcting a vital record, the Massachusetts Archives page on researching vital records, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
The Social Security number rule since July 1, 2026
An amendment to chapter 46, section 1 of the Massachusetts General Laws took effect on July 1, 2026, and since then a death certificate shows the decedent's full Social Security number only when the request comes from someone with a legitimate need. The Registry lists who that is: the spouse or domestic partner, a parent or legal guardian, a child, grandchild, grandparent or sibling, the informant named on the death record, the licensed funeral director named on the record, a conservator, personal representative or legal representative of the estate, a government official who needs the number for official work, a person named in a court order, and anyone else with a direct tangible interest in the estate at the discretion of the state Registrar or the local clerk where the death occurred.
Each relationship needs its own documents, which the Registry sets out in its Death Record SSN guide, and the regulation that defines legitimate need, 105 CMR 304, was still being written when the page was read.
The Registry's list of restricted records does not otherwise limit who may order a death certificate. A request needs the name of the person who died, the date and place of death and proof of the applicant's identity, preferably a driver license, which the Registry accepts even if it has expired, or another government photo ID. Some requests may also need papers showing how the applicant is related, which includes guardians and legal representatives.
When the Registry cannot find the record
If no record turns up, the Registry sends a Negative Statement instead of a certificate. That statement is the document needed to establish a delayed record, so it is worth keeping. The Registry says it keeps its indexes and records only on site in Dorchester, that no record details or index are online, and that research is not available by phone or through the expedited mail service. People who want information from a record without buying a certified copy can use the Registry's genealogical research hours, Monday and Thursday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and Tuesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to noon, at four dollars fifty per person for each half hour of searching.
The building is in the Bayside Office Center, a five minute walk from the JFK/UMass stop, with on-site parking at two dollars an hour up to six dollars.
Correcting a death record
A correction starts with the clerk of the city or town where the death took place, not with the Registry. The applicant has to show evidence that the entry was wrong at or near the time of death, because Massachusetts records list what was true when the event happened and are not updated for later changes. The amendment fee is a one-time fifty dollars, and a certified copy of the corrected record costs thirty two dollars by mail or twenty in person.
The Registry's amendment unit answers at 617-740-2674 and RVRSAmendments@mass.gov and will say which amendments can be done by mail, and an in person amendment needs an appointment.
Deaths from 1841 to 1935 at the Massachusetts Archives
Statewide death records in Massachusetts begin in 1841. The Massachusetts Archives holds them through 1935, after the Registry recently transferred the records for 1931 to 1935, and the Registry now holds deaths from 1936 to the present. The archives certify a death record for three dollars, paid by cash or check to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, with no cards or electronic payments. Each certificate needs its own order form, no more than five can be ordered at once, mailed requests need a separate three dollar check for each, and emailed requests are invoiced and paid on receipt. Payment for a record that cannot be found is returned.
The archives warn that a flood of requests driven by changing dual citizenship laws in Canada and other countries has pushed the wait for certified copies past twenty weeks. Their advice is to get the certificate from the city or town clerk where the death occurred if a state certified copy is not required. For research rather than legal use, digital images of the original records from 1841 to 1930 can be viewed free on FamilySearch through a partnership with the archives, and the reference staff at archives@sec.state.ma.us will send links or scans of up to five records from 1841 to 1935 at no charge. The 1930 to 1935 records will take a few years to digitize.
Before 1841, and the role of the town clerk
For a death before 1841 there is no state record. The archives send researchers to the clerk of the city or town where the death happened, and the Registry notes that death records from before 1936 may also still be held by the city or town. The archives add that various city and town clerks may also hold vital records from 1936 to the present, which makes the local clerk a second route for recent deaths as well. The Secretary of the Commonwealth publishes a directory of every city and town clerk in the state.
Questions about Massachusetts death records
Related Massachusetts records
The Registry's birth records are covered in the Massachusetts birth certificates guide, probate files in the Massachusetts court records guide, and access to government files in the Massachusetts public records law guide, with local clerks on the Massachusetts county pages.