The Arizona Department of Health Services runs the Bureau of Vital Records at 150 North 18th Avenue in Phoenix, and its vital records site says the bureau began recording births and deaths officially in July 1909, while keeping a sampling of earlier death records from 1877 gathered from other sources. The bureau is the keeper, but it is not the quickest counter. Its own apply page tells readers to contact the local county health department vital records office about same day service, and the correction rules split the work by year: a death from 2008 to the present is corrected at the county where it happened, a death before 2008 at the state office.
The reason every applicant has to prove something is that Arizona treats vital records as closed. The bureau says plainly that vital records are not public record and that state law restricts access to protect confidentiality, so there is no public index, no informational copy for the curious and no counter where a stranger can look up a death. Only a person 18 or older may obtain a certified copy, exceptions aside, and every eligible category in the administrative code comes with its own list of documents, from a marriage certificate for a spouse to a copy of the life insurance policy for a beneficiary.
- $20 a copy: the fee for a certified death certificate at the state office and at the county vital records offices, and $30 to correct or amend a death record.
- Closed record: only the people listed in A.A.C. R9-19-314 and R9-19-315 can receive a certified copy, and each must be 18 or older and prove the relationship.
- 2008 is the line: corrections and amendments for deaths from 2008 on go to the county health department, earlier deaths to the state bureau.
- Five business days: the average state turnaround for a mailed application, with same day service a question for the county office.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Arizona's own systems: the Arizona Department of Health Services Bureau of Vital Records site, the Bureau of Vital Records death certificate eligibility section, the Bureau of Vital Records death certificate application section, the Bureau of Vital Records fee schedule section, the Bureau of Vital Records death certificate corrections and amendments section, the Bureau of Vital Records online ordering options section, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Family members and the paper each one sends
The eligibility section walks through each relative. A spouse must be named on the death certificate and sends a copy of the marriage certificate. A parent qualifies if named on the death record, or otherwise with the decedent's birth registration or an adoption order naming the parent; when the decedent was born in Arizona the parent simply gives the name and date of birth for a check in the electronic registry. A grandparent proves the chain through the birth certificate of the parent who links them.
An adult child or grandchild must be 18, or show emancipation or marriage if younger, and sends the birth certificate that names the decedent, or for a grandchild the two certificates that connect the generations. A brother or sister sends a birth certificate showing at least one common parent.
Every family applicant signs the application, submits a copy of the front and back of a government photo identification bearing a signature or has the signature notarized, and pays the fee. Documents in another language must come with an English translation and a signed statement from the translator attesting to competence and accuracy.
Funeral directors, executors, insurers and others
A funeral director, or a designee, may order certificates for 12 months after the death is registered when representing the decedent through a prearranged funeral agreement, the spouse, a parent, grandparent, adult child, grandchild or sibling, or another person responsible for the final disposition under A.R.S. 36-831. The request goes on the establishment's letterhead or the application with the director's license number, and every certificate ordered this way is sent to the funeral home, never to the family member.
A person responsible for final disposition who is not a funeral director qualifies with proof of that role, and a person holding a power of attorney from an eligible relative sends the power of attorney and the relative's own proof.
The estate and money categories are what make the list long. An executor or beneficiary named in the will sends a copy of the last will and testament. A life insurance beneficiary sends the policy or a letter from the insurer naming them. An insurance company, bank, credit union or mortgage lender applies on letterhead with the decedent's details, a description of the policy or account and the reason for the request. A hospital or health care institution does the same with a description of its claim against the estate, and a person holding a court order with a claim against the estate, or anyone named in a court order to receive the certificate, sends a certified copy of that order.
An eligible relative can also authorize someone else in a signed letter that carries the relative's notarized signature or a copy of the relative's identification.
The $20 fee and the rest of the schedule
Administrative Code rule R9-19-105 sets the prices, and the bureau's fee schedule lists $20 for a certificate of death registration, the same $20 for a delayed death registration, a fetal death certificate, a certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth, and the registration of a delayed death record or a death record for a presumptive death. A request to amend or correct information in a registered death record is $30, and a Certificate of No Record, issued when a search finds nothing, is $20.
Government agencies can get non certified copies for $5 and a search to verify birth or death data for statistical or research purposes is $5.
A mailed application is paid with a cashier's check or money order for the exact amount payable to Office of Vital Records, or with a Visa or MasterCard whose full number and expiration date are written on the form; the bureau says not to send cash. Every mailed request must include a self addressed stamped envelope. The schedule notes that county prices are set by each county, and readers are sent to the local county health department for its own figures.
Mail to Phoenix, or walk into the county
The apply section lists three routes. By mail, the applicant sends the completed Application for Certified Copy of Death Certificate, the identification copy or notarized signature, proof of eligibility, the stamped envelope and the fee to the Bureau of Vital Records, P.O. Box 6018, Phoenix, Arizona 85005, and the bureau gives an average of five business days from the day the application arrives, with a warning that an incomplete form will delay it.
In person service is a matter for the county: the bureau tells applicants to reach out to the local county health department vital records office to ask about same day service, and its county list runs through all fifteen counties from Apache to Yuma.
The bureau notes that its own office opens at noon on the first Friday of each month, and that the state headquarters otherwise keeps Monday to Friday hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed on weekends and state holidays. Telephone help is at (602) 364-1300 or (888) 816-5907.
Ordering online through VitalChek
The bureau accepts online orders and expedited service through VitalChek Network, which it describes as the independent company it has partnered with, and it says it does not endorse any other internet ordering service. The online ordering section prices the certificate at $20 and the VitalChek processing charge at $15.50 per order, with shipping by regular mail free, express courier two to three day delivery $17.50, standard overnight by 4 p.m. $18.50, priority overnight by 10:30 a.m. $19.50, and $5 more for an alternate UPS delivery location.
All major cards are accepted, and the bureau warns that any correction or amendment fee not collected earlier may be added.
Correcting and amending a death record
The corrections section rests on A.R.S. 36-323 and rules R9-19-309 and R9-19-310. A correction fixes a typographical slip such as a misspelling or transposed numbers, and can be requested by the person responsible for the final disposition or by the informant who gave the facts to the funeral director, with a signed affidavit, proof of the relationship, an evidentiary document dated before the death was registered that supports the change, the identification copy or notarized signature, the fee and a stamped envelope.
An amendment adds, deletes or substitutes information and may be requested by any person with the same kind of proof, but with one extra step.
Rule R9-19-310(C) requires the county office or the bureau to notify the informant of a requested amendment. The informant has 10 calendar days from the mailing of the notice to respond; silence or agreement lets the amendment go through, while an objection stops the change until more documentary evidence is produced and the Assistant State Registrar rules on it. A change to the manner or cause of death can be made only by a medical certifier, including a medical examiner or tribal law enforcement authority.
Where the required documents cannot be found, a certified court order is needed. Deaths before 2008 are handled at the Phoenix post office box, deaths from 2008 on at the county.
Older deaths and the records the bureau does not hold
Statewide registration starts in July 1909, so most Arizona deaths before that date have no state certificate, although the bureau keeps the sampling of records back to 1877 that it collected from other sources and runs a separate genealogy program. Marriage and divorce records are not vital records in Arizona at all; the bureau says they are maintained by the Clerk of the Superior Court in the county where the event occurred and are not available from vital records, and it points users to the Arizona courts locator.
A death in another state is ordered from that state. The birth side of the same bureau is covered in the Arizona birth certificates guide, and the Arizona public records law guide covers requests to other agencies.
Questions about Arizona death records
Related Arizona records
Arizona readers can continue with the Arizona birth certificates guide for the same bureau, the Arizona public records law guide for agency files, and the Arizona county pages for every county health department and superior court.