The Washington State Department of Health has death records for events in the state from July 1, 1907, and it is unusual in offering three distinct products from each one. The long form death certificate is printed on certified security paper and includes the cause and manner of death and the Social Security number; it is the version for closing bank accounts and claiming life insurance. The short form, on the same security paper, leaves out the cause, manner and Social Security number, and the department suggests it for transferring vehicle titles, real estate deals and probate. The noncertified informational copy carries the same content as the short form but is watermarked as unusable for legal purposes.
Each version has its own list of who may buy it, and the department tells applicants to ask the agency or business that wants the document which content it needs before paying. The informational copy is the only one that requires no identity check and no proof of relationship, so it is the genealogist's product, while the long form is the most tightly held.
- Three products: long form with cause of death and SSN, short form without them, and an informational copy that anyone can order.
- From $25: every certificate or informational copy starts at a nonrefundable $25; VitalChek orders start at $40.50.
- 12 month window: funeral directors and the person controlling disposition of the remains qualify only within 12 months of the death.
- Free index online: the State Archives publishes a searchable Department of Health death index from 1907.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Washington's own systems: the Department of Health page on ordering a death record, the Department of Health page on ordering a vital record, the Department of Health page on correcting a record, the Department of Health page on vital records with no fee in specific circumstances, the Washington State Archives Digital Archives death index, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Who qualifies for each version
For the long form, the department's qualified applicants are the spouse or domestic partner, child, parent, stepparent, stepchild, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, great grandparent and great grandchild, plus a legal guardian, a legal representative, an authorized representative, a government agency, the courts and next of kin. Two more categories are time limited: a funeral director or funeral establishment, and the person controlling disposition of the remains under RCW 68.50.160, qualify only within 12 months of the date of death. After that year has passed, a funeral home has to come in through another category.
The short form list repeats all of those and adds two kinds of buyer. A title insurer or title insurance agent may order it, and so may any person who shows the certificate is needed for a determination related to the death or to protect a personal or property right related to it. Anyone ordering either certified version supplies valid government identification, or alternate identification, together with documents proving the qualifying relationship. The informational copy is open to anyone, without proof of identity or relationship, but it cannot be issued for long form content or for fetal deaths.
What to ask for and what it costs
An order needs three facts: the first and last name of the person who died, the date of death or at least the month and year, and the city or county of death. Fees start at $25 per certificate or informational copy and are nonrefundable. By mail the cost starts at $25, payable by check or money order, with the order form, a signature, a photocopy of ID and the relationship proof. Online at VitalChek or by telephone at 1-866-687-1464, the total starts at $40.50, made up of the $25 certificate fee, an $8.50 VitalChek fee and a $7 Department of Health processing fee, and an optional $3 identity quiz raises it to $43.50.
VitalChek is the department's only contracted vendor. It warns that other companies charge high fees to process or help apply for certificates, and points anyone caught by one to the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division at 800-551-4636 within Washington. Orders that include an apostille ship through the Secretary of State, and the department says to allow 5 to 7 business days for tracking to appear because the label is created before the document actually leaves.
How fast each route is
For a copy the same day, the department partners with local health departments for in person sales of most death certificates; each county office decides which records and years it offers, may charge an extra fee, and should be checked before a visit. VitalChek online and phone orders are processed and shipped within 3 to 7 business days depending on the shipping chosen. Mail is where the state's own pages disagree: the vital records ordering page says mail orders ship within 6 to 8 weeks of the department receiving and processing payment, while the death record page and the timing note further down the same ordering page say the customer receives the order within 8 to 10 weeks. In either case the clock starts only once full payment and all documents are in hand.
To check on a mailed order, the department asks callers first to confirm with their bank that the check or money order was cashed and on what date, since a cashed payment proves the order arrived, and to quote the check number and date when calling. A VitalChek order is tracked with the order number on the VitalChek receipt.
Correcting a death certificate
Most corrections use the Affidavit for Correction, form DOH 422-034, which is also printed on the back of every certificate; the department says to download the current version if the copy in hand is dated before January 15, 2015. The applicant sends the signed affidavit, a copy of government photo ID, proof of relationship where required and supporting documents to the Center for Health Statistics, Attn: Corrections, P.O. Box 47814, Olympia, WA 98504-7814.
Changes to personal details and changes to the cause of death follow separate instructions, and a separate page covers death certificates ordered or corrected for the FEMA COVID-19 Funeral Assistance Program.
The current turnaround for corrections is two months, and the department invites a call to 360-236-4300 if that passes. A corrected certificate can be ordered at the same time by sending the certificate application with the correction request, and it is issued once the correction is done. Someone holding a certified copy issued less than a year earlier can send it in with the correction and receive the corrected version in exchange at no charge.
When a death certificate is free
Washington's vital records law lets the department and local health jurisdictions issue certain records at no fee. For death certificates, three situations apply. A certificate used for a claim for compensation or pension pending before the Veterans Administration, as the page names it, is free when the application includes official VA documentation, along with the usual identity and relationship proof. A law enforcement agency maintaining the registered sex offender database can obtain the death certificate of a registered offender at no charge.
And a county clerk or court in Washington can obtain an offender's death certificate free in order to extinguish that person's legal financial obligations.
The Digital Archives death index and older records
For research the best free tool is the Secretary of State's Digital Archives death index, which can be searched by name, Soundex and year range. Its description says it covers deaths from 1907 to 1960 and from 1965 to 2017, with the 1961 to 1964 indexes available on microfilm at the State Archives in Olympia, while the collection title now reads 1907 to 1960 and 1965 to 2024; the two statements sit on the same page. The 1907 to 1960 entries were transcribed by volunteers and hold more detail than the later entries, which come from a Department of Health data extract, and the Archives notes that its collection of Department of Health death certificate images reaches up to twenty five years ago. The index is open for research.
Questions about Washington death records
Related Washington records
For the same office's birth records see Washington birth certificates, and for marriage and divorce see Washington vital records. The Washington public records law guide covers the Public Records Act, and Washington leads to each county.