The rule that sets Michigan apart is printed on its own death record application: death records are not restricted documents in Michigan, and anyone can have a search made once the application is completed, signed and paid for. The ordering page adds that no photo ID is required for a certified death copy or for a death verification. A neighbour, a title company, a researcher or a distant cousin can therefore order the same certificate a widow can, with no proof of interest at all.
The Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics in Lansing holds deaths that occurred and were registered in Michigan back to 1867, the year the state first required cities and townships to count births and deaths. The application warns that some deaths were never filed with the state and that some are missing from the files before 1906. The fee is charged for the search rather than the paper: $34 buys a search of one year and either one certified copy or a letter saying nothing was found, and the department states that search fees are not refunded.
- No restriction: any person may order a certified Michigan death record, and the department lists no photo ID requirement for it.
- Thirty four dollars: one year searched plus one certified copy or a no-find letter; extra copies are $16 each.
- Short or long form: the long form carries the medical conditions and circumstances of death, the short form leaves them out.
- Free old index: GENDIS indexes more than 460,000 deaths from 1867 to 1897 at no charge.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Michigan's own systems: MDHHS order birth, death, marriage and divorce records, MDHHS application for a certified copy of a Michigan death record, MDHHS correct or change a vital record, MDHHS application to correct a Michigan death record, MDHHS Genealogical Death Indexing System, Library of Michigan vital records guide, Michiganology, Archives of Michigan, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Short form or long form
The application makes the buyer choose. A short form death record gives the essential facts of who died, when and where, and leaves out the medical information and the manner of death. A long form record reproduces the full death registration, including the medical conditions reported and the other circumstances that led to the death. Both cost the same $34 base fee. Because the record is unrestricted, the long form with its cause of death is as available to the public as the short form, which is worth knowing before a family assumes the medical details are private.
The form asks for the name of the deceased at the time of death and the year of death as a minimum, and the office will search the whole of that year if the month and day are unknown. Each additional year searched costs $12. Extra certified copies of the same record are $16 each, and the expedited rush service, which the form says shortens in-office time but not mail time, is a further $12. Payment by post is a check or money order made out to the State of Michigan, and the office returns results by first class mail and will not use prepaid envelopes.
A signature in ink is required, and the form cites MCL 333.2894 for the criminal penalties attached to falsifying a vital records application.
Two sets of processing times
Michigan publishes two different estimates and they do not agree. The ordering page read on October 15, 2026 lists 10 to 12 weeks for regular death orders and 8 to 10 weeks for expedited ones. The death application form, revised in February 2025, describes about 4 to 6 weeks of in-office processing for a regular mail search and about 2 to 3 weeks for a rush search, before mailing. The web page carries the current notice, and the form itself directs anyone whose deadline the printed times do not meet to the vital records website or the Eligibility Unit at 517-335-8666.
Regular and rush mail both go to P.O. Box 30721 in Lansing, addressed to Vital Records Requests or Vital Records RUSH.
Online, drop box, appointment and Will Call
VitalChek is the only online provider the state authorizes, reachable on the web or by phone at 866-443-9897 at any hour, and it charges a search fee plus an online processing fee on each record; the state lists the standard record at a $34 search fee and a $14 online processing fee, with rush delivery extra. An online order can be marked for Will Call, in which case the office processes it within 2 to 5 business days and emails when it is ready for pickup at 333 South Grand Avenue on a Tuesday or Thursday between 10 am and 2 pm, with photo identification and the email confirmation shown on arrival.
The same building has a drop box in its main lobby, open Monday to Friday from 7 am to 5:30 pm, for sealed envelopes holding the application, a check or money order, a copy of ID and any documents. Walk in service is by appointment only, on the same Tuesday and Thursday hours, and covers death certificates among other records, but genealogy requests and corrections are not handled the same day. The state accepts checks, money orders, credit cards and cash. A certified copy authenticated with an apostille for use abroad costs $42 rather than $34.
Who may change a Michigan death record
Buying a death record is open; changing one is not. The correction application is limited to the funeral director, the informant named on the certificate, and the next of kin within five years of the death. Next of kin runs in a fixed order: surviving spouse, children, grandchildren, parents, grandparents and siblings, and a relative not named on the certificate proves the link with birth certificates, marriage licenses, death certificates or a court determination of heirs. Once five years have passed, or if next of kin cannot be determined, a court order is required.
The fee is $50 including one corrected copy, $16 for each additional copy and $25 for rush handling, and the application fee is not refunded. Most changes need one or two dated records that clearly match the deceased, such as marriage records, birth certificates, school, social security, military, census or medical records, and a driver's license or state ID is not accepted as evidence. Original documents are not returned. The date and place of death and every medical item can be corrected only by the certifying physician or medical examiner on a separate form.
Changing the marital status or the surviving spouse's name requires a court order naming the surviving spouse, unless the fix is a minor spelling error or a demonstrated funeral home mistake. The form puts normal correction processing at 5 to 6 weeks when everything is received, and the Changes Unit answers at 517-335-8660.
Free indexes and certificate images for family history
For deaths before statewide certificates, the department runs the Genealogical Death Indexing System, known as GENDIS, with more than 460,000 Michigan deaths from 1867 to 1897. Its entries were transcribed from microfilmed death ledgers by volunteers from local genealogical societies, with funding from the Abrams Foundation through the Michigan Genealogical Council, and in 2015 the division merged them with its computerized ledger files to fill out the names from the 1870s to the 1890s. The ledger entries lack cause of death, race and sex.
The Library of Michigan vital records guide explains why 1897 is the dividing line: deaths were kept in ledgers until then, and Public Act 217 of 1897 brought in individual death certificates, signed by the attending physician and funeral director, from 1898. It also points to Michiganology, the Archives of Michigan site, for digitized death certificates. The guide gives two spans for that collection: one passage says the images run from 1897 to about 1943 with indexing to 1952, and its table note says searchable certificates cover 1897 to 1939 with indexing through 1952, adding that the work is in progress and the dates may change. The library also holds microfilmed death indexes for 1867 to 1914 and 1897 to 1969.
Questions about Michigan death records
Related Michigan records
Related Michigan pages on SearchSystems.net are Michigan birth certificates from the same Lansing office, the Michigan vital records overview, Michigan court records for probate matters, the Michigan public records law guide, and the Michigan county pages.