New Jersey offers two products from the same death record, and choosing the right one decides how much paperwork is needed. A certified copy is the version that is valid for legal purposes, and the Department of Health issues it only to the subject's parent, legal guardian or legal representative, the spouse or civil union partner, an adult child, grandchild or sibling, a state or federal agency acting officially, or someone holding a court order. A certification is an uncertified informational copy that is not valid for identity or legal purposes. It needs proof of identity but no proof of relationship.
The state says failure to prove the relationship is the most common reason it rejects applications for certified copies. The proof works as a chain of documents: an adult child sends their own birth certificate to show the parent, a spouse sends the marriage or civil union certificate, and a grandchild sends enough records to link the name on their identification to the grandparent, which can mean their own marriage certificate, their own birth certificate and their parent's birth certificate. Local registrars are listed on the New Jersey county pages.
- Twenty five dollars: the state fee for the search and the first certified copy, certification or No Record Statement.
- Two dollars: the price of each extra copy of the same record, as long as it is ordered with the first one.
- Forty years: a death becomes a genealogical record once it is more than forty years old.
- A subpoena is not enough: an attorney with no eligible client needs a court order directing the State Registrar to issue the record.
Written by SearchSystems.net from New Jersey's own systems: the New Jersey Department of Health page on non-genealogical records, the department's page on genealogical records, the department's fees at a glance, the department's online requests page, the New Jersey State Archives page on genealogical records, the State Archives death record search request form, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
What a current death record request needs
For a death in the last forty years the request must identify the record exactly: the full name of the person who died, the city of death, the exact month, day and year, the mother's maiden name and the father's name if it appears on the record. The state will not take a request without those details. The applicant also sends copies, never originals, of identification. One current photo driver license or photo non-driver ID with the current address is enough.
Otherwise the state takes a non-photo driver license plus one alternate document, or two alternate documents, all showing the current address. Alternate documents include a vehicle registration or insurance card, a voter registration, a passport, a green card, a federal, state, county or school ID, a W-2, or a bank statement or utility bill from the last ninety days. The copy is mailed to the address on the identification unless a notarized letter authorizes a different address.
Executors, attorneys and helpers
An attorney who is the executor of an estate sends proof of the appointment. An attorney for an executor sends proof of being retained by the executor and proof of the executor's appointment, and an attorney for any other eligible person sends proof of retainer plus that person's proof of relationship. Someone who is not eligible but is helping an eligible person needs valid identification and a notarized written release from that person, together with that person's proof of relationship.
The department is explicit that a subpoena does not entitle anyone to a vital record, so a lawyer with no eligible client has to get a court order directing the State Registrar to issue it.
Fees and payment
The Office of Vital Statistics and Registry charges twenty five dollars for the initial search and one certified copy, one certification or a No Record Statement, and two dollars for each extra copy of the same record ordered at the same time. Mail applications to the state are paid by check or money order to Treasurer, State of New Jersey, and the state does not take card numbers by mail or cash in the post. Local registrars set their own fees, and payment to a local office is made to the municipality.
VitalChek, the state's ordering vendor, charges the same twenty five and two dollar state fees plus a processing fee of six dollars by mail or twelve dollars ninety five by phone, with optional UPS tracking for eighteen dollars inside the continental United States.
How fast each route is
Same day walk in service is offered only for current records, at the state office at 140 East Front Street in Trenton, where orders are typically processed within two hours, and at local vital records offices, whose times and fees vary. The state stopped taking cash at the Trenton counter on June 18, 2026. Online orders go through VitalChek around the clock, need a scanned copy of every supporting document in PDF, JPEG or TIF format, and cannot be picked up at the walk in center.
The two official pages give different times for them: the online requests page gives six to eight weeks as standard processing, while the page on current records says online orders are processed within four to six weeks. Mail orders sent through VitalChek are typically processed within two to four weeks, and phone orders go to VitalChek at 1-877-622-7549, with documents faxed to 1-888-489-9506. None of these times count delivery or the time spent fixing an incomplete application.
Genealogical death records
A death becomes a genealogical record when the person is deceased and the death is more than forty years old, and the Department of Health holds those records from 1951 onward. A genealogical request needs only the full name, the city or county and the year of death, though an exact date, the parents' names and the Social Security number help. These requests are taken by mail only and typically take ten to twelve weeks. Each extra year searched costs one dollar and each extra name or county costs another twenty five dollars.
Anyone can ask for an informational certification, while a certified copy still requires proof of relationship.
The State Archives in Trenton, 1848 to 1950
Deaths from May 1, 1848 to December 31, 1950 belong to the New Jersey State Archives, which researches them by mail and opens them in its microfilm room at 225 West State Street. It has searchable databases of deaths from May 1848 to May 1878 and from June 1878 to December 1900, and it keeps microfilm of the health department's death records for 1951 to 1965 for visitors to search themselves. Its printed death record search request form, revised in May 2014, prices a search at ten dollars when the month and year are known and fifteen dollars for a single two year search, nonrefundable whether or not the record is found, with checks made out to New Jersey General Treasury.
Before 1901 the filing year did not follow the calendar: from May 1848 to May 1878 it ran May to May, and from June 1878 to 1900 it usually ran July to June, which is why a two year search is needed to cover one calendar year in that period. New Jersey kept no government death records at all before 1848, but the archives hold county coroners' inquisitions on the dead from 1688 to 1798 for deaths under suspicious circumstances.
Questions about New Jersey death records
Related New Jersey records
The same office's birth records are covered in the New Jersey birth certificates guide, estate and probate files in the New Jersey court records guide, and access to government files in the New Jersey public records law guide, with local registrars on the New Jersey county pages.