When death certificates open, who can order them now, and the free index, obituary, and probate routes.
How Arizona Death Records Work
Arizona is a closed-record state: death certificates are restricted to eligible family and legal representatives for 50 years. The payoff is unusual — once a record crosses the line, Arizona posts the actual certificate image online for free. No informational copies within 50 years; eligibility rules apply until the record opens.
County health offices also issue certified copies, but the free statewide image search is the fastest route for anything more than 50 years old. Content reviewed July 30, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Arizona's own genealogy site serves free scanned death certificates from 1870 to 1970 — you can view and download open certificates without paying anything.
Arizona is a closed-record state: death certificates are restricted to eligible family and legal representatives for 50 years.
What can non-family requesters get?
No informational copies within 50 years; eligibility rules apply until the record opens.
Is there a free Arizona death index online?
Arizona's own genealogy site serves free scanned death certificates from 1870 to 1970 — you can view and download open certificates without paying anything.
What if I just need to confirm a death or find an obituary?
Skip the certificate entirely: newspaper obituaries (many are indexed by library databases), the Social Security death index carried on the big genealogy platforms, and probate case files in the county court that handled the estate all confirm a death without touching the restricted certificate.
Related Arizona Records
The Arizona vital records page covers the full birth-marriage-death picture; birth certificates follow their own (usually longer) privacy clock; probate lives in Arizona court records; and people search shows how death records fit a full person lookup. County pages list the local offices that issue copies.
