The Department of Health Office of Vital Records registers, amends and issues every death certificate filed in Tennessee, and since the state put issuance on an electronic system every county health department can print any death certificate registered statewide. That removes the old need to deal with the county where the death happened: a family in Memphis can pick up a certificate for a death in Johnson City at the local health department. The state counter is on the first floor of the Andrew Johnson Tower, 710 James Robertson Parkway in Nashville, entered from the Rosa Parks Boulevard side, open Monday to Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with free parking on Rev. Kelly M Smith Way. No appointment is needed for a certified copy.
Tennessee keeps death records in the health department for 50 years and then sends them to the Tennessee State Library and Archives for public access and family research, according to the office's help center. The Secretary of State reports that the health department released the 1975 death records to the Archives in January 2026, for public access after February 18. So in 2026 the dividing line is 1976: later deaths are a health department matter with eligibility rules, and deaths from 1914 to 1975 are open history at the Archives.
- $15 for every copy: the first certificate and each additional copy cost the same, and a no record found letter costs the same as a certificate.
- Any county: every county health department can issue any death certificate registered statewide.
- Parent, child or spouse: everyone else must show entitlement, such as letters testamentary or an insurance policy naming the beneficiary.
- 1913 is missing: the first death registration law lapsed at the end of 1912 and the next began in 1914.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Tennessee's own systems: the Tennessee Department of Health Office of Vital Records, the office's help center article on entitlement guidelines, the office's help center article on identification requirements, the office's help center article on how to get a certificate, the office's help center fee table, the office's help center article on processing times, the office's help center article on genealogy research, the Chief Medical Examiner's rules and laws for death certificates, the office's instructions for funeral director requests for death certificate changes, the Tennessee State Library and Archives guide to vital records, the Library and Archives page on ordering records, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Who qualifies, and what proves entitlement
The office's entitlement guidelines, which rest on T.C.A. 68-3-205 and 68-3-206 and Vital Records Rule 1200-07-01, name six people entitled to a death certificate on relationship alone: the mother, father, son, daughter, husband and wife of the person who died. A funeral director is entitled too, but only when the certificate is handed or mailed to the funeral home that handled the services. Tennessee issues the certificate with or without the cause of death, and the documentation grows for the version with it.
A beneficiary sends the policy page naming them, and for the cause of death version proof that the insurer needs the cause before paying. An executor sends the letters testamentary, the will or the probate court papers. A guardian sends the certified court guardianship order, and a power of attorney counts only while the certificate holder is alive, which rules it out for a death record. An attorney writes on firm letterhead naming the client, encloses a bar card and the representation agreement, and must ask for the cause of death in so many words if it is wanted.
A case manager helping the spouse, parent or child sends an agency letter and an agency identification card. An ex-spouse claiming Social Security survivor benefits sends the letter from Social Security saying the certificate is needed. Any of these helpers can instead send an authorization of release signed by the spouse, parent or child; the office then wants identification from both people, unless the authorization is notarized, in which case only the person collecting the record needs to show identification.
Identification, by mail and at the counter
The identification rules accept photocopies and ask for one item from a primary list, which starts with a current driver license showing its issue and expiration dates and includes resident and employment authorization cards and naturalization or citizenship certificates. Without one, the applicant sends two items from a secondary list, which includes a vehicle registration or voter card, a DD214 discharge, a utility bill or bank statement with the current address, a health coverage card, the application page of an insurance policy and a signed Social Security card; someone whose identification was stolen can use a police report.
A notarized application needs no further identification at all, which is the simplest route for an out of state relative.
Mailed requests go to the Office of Vital Records at the Andrew Johnson Tower address with the signed Application for Certified Copy of Certificate of Birth, Death, Marriage or Divorce, a photocopy of a signed government identification card or a notarized application, and a check or money order payable to Tennessee Vital Records. At the Nashville window the office takes cash, checks, credit and debit cards and money orders. Online orders are not taken by the state directly; it has contracted with VitalChek as its only authorized online vendor, which adds its own fees.
The office's processing table, dated June 23, 2026, puts a plain certificate request at the same day in person and 3 days by mail or online, an amendment at 2 weeks once the record is on file, and an adoption or a delayed certificate at 45 days, with a warning that the figures move with volume and staffing.
Fees, including the ones families do not expect
The fee table prices a certified death certificate at $15 and every additional copy at $15 too, unlike states that discount extra copies. When no record is found, the office issues a letter certifying that, and the fee is the same as for a certificate. Providing verified information on a death, even if the record cannot be found, is also $15. A copy of the supporting documents used to file or amend a record costs $5 when requested with the certificate, and opening a sealed file with one copy of its contents costs $30. Amending a death record is free in the first six months after the death and $15 after that.
Corrections through the funeral home and the certifier
Most early corrections come through the funeral director, using a notarized affidavit on the letterhead of the funeral home named on the certificate, listing the current and correct information and stating whether the funeral home made the error. The date, time and place of death and the cause of death can only be changed by the physician or medical examiner who certified it. Changes to marital status may bring affidavits from the informant or spouse, and a change of informant needs affidavits from both the current and the new informant.
The office's instructions set the cost by age: changes within six months of death are free and are emailed as notarized affidavits, changes at six months or more cost $15, and changes after a year cost $15 and need supporting evidence.
Medical examiners and the cause of death
The Office of the State Chief Medical Examiner publishes the rules behind the medical section of the certificate. The physician who directed care for the condition that caused death must sign within 48 hours if the patient was seen within the past four months, under T.C.A. 68-3-502, and in a hospital the chief medical officer signs if no treating physician is available. The county medical examiner must be told of violent, suspicious, unusual or unexpected deaths, including deaths in custody, sudden infant deaths, workplace deaths, poisonings and deaths of unidentified people, and takes over signing the certificate when he or she accepts jurisdiction.
Only a medical examiner may certify a death with a non natural manner. Physicians who sign in good faith are immune from civil suit, and the department notes that the certificate is required both to settle the estate and for final disposition of the body.
Old deaths at the State Library and Archives
Tennessee first required death records in 1908, but that law expired at the end of 1912 and the more detailed certificate law did not take effect until 1914, so 1913 is known as the dead year with no statewide death records. The Archives guide to vital records lists earlier city records in Nashville from 1874, Knoxville from 1881, Chattanooga from 1872 and Memphis from 1848, with only the Nashville and Memphis ones indexed. The Archives hold statewide death records for 1908 to 1912 and 1914 to 1975, searchable by name, county, year and certificate number; the 1908 to 1912 index covers nearly 98,000 deaths and those early certificates give age, occupation, birthplace and cause of death but not parents' names.
The Archives ordering page prices a researched vital record copy at $5 for Tennessee residents and $10 for out of state requesters, with certification $5 more on mailed copies and $5.50 per certified document when collected in person. Death records from 1908 to 1965 can also be searched online through the Archives partnership with Ancestry, free to Tennesseans, and newly released years are being added to the Tennessee Virtual Archive through 2026.
Questions about Tennessee death records
Related Tennessee records
Tennessee readers can follow up with the Tennessee birth certificates guide for the Nashville office, Tennessee court records for probate and letters testamentary, the Tennessee public records law guide, and the Tennessee county pages for each county health department.