A Delaware death record changes hands as it ages. For the first 40 years it is held by the Office of Vital Statistics in the Division of Public Health, which issues certified copies to the spouse, children, parents, other proven relatives, guardians, genealogists with proof and authorized representatives, at $25 a certificate. The Delaware Public Archives guide to vital statistics records explains the handover: state law makes a death record public once it reaches 40 years of age, compared with 72 years for a birth and 50 for a marriage, and the records that have become public are available on microfilm in the Archives research room, where a certified copy for legal use costs $25 and a self service microfilm print 50 cents a page.
Statewide registration dates from 1913, when the central Bureau of Vital Statistics was created with the Secretary of the Board of Health as State Registrar. Before that it was the duty of each county Recorder of Deeds to record births, marriages and deaths and to send a copy to the Board of Health every three months, with uneven results, so the Archives keeps a checklist of other sources for deaths before 1913, from Trustees of the Poor records to cemetery and probate files. The Office of Vital Statistics page encourages applicants to mail their requests to its central office in Dover, and names GoCertificates and VitalChek as the two companies that take card orders for an added fee.
- $25 a certificate: the fee for a certified Delaware death certificate, part of it donated to the distressed cemetery fund, and kept as a search fee if no record is found.
- 40 years: a death record becomes public at 40 years and is then researched at the Delaware Public Archives, which sells certified copies for $25.
- Three offices: Dover, Newark and Georgetown, each open to customers Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Felony warning: the application states that a false statement, or unlawfully obtaining a certified copy, is a felony under 16 Del. C. section 3111.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Delaware's own systems: the Delaware Office of Vital Statistics page, the application for a certified copy of a Delaware death certificate, March 2022 revision, the Delaware Public Archives guide to vital statistics records, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Who may apply, box by box
The death certificate application asks the applicant to check one relationship. The boxes are my current husband or wife, my child, my parent, another specified familial relationship, legal guardian with a court order, genealogy with proof, and the authorized agent, attorney or legal representative of someone in the first five groups. A spouse, a parent and anyone in the other relative box must send proof of the relationship, such as a birth or marriage certificate, and the form warns that additional documentation may be requested.
Authorized representatives fill in the client's name, the client's relationship to the registrant and the purpose of the request.
The office page adds a rule for lawyers and agents: a legal request must use the office's legal template, be on official letterhead, state the purpose, explain how the record will be used, show the client's relationship to the registrant with documents such as a Register of Wills short certificate or a court order, and cite the law or regulation that makes the applicant eligible. Below the signature line the form states that it is a felony under 16 Del. C. section 3111 to make a false statement on the application or to unlawfully obtain a certified copy of a death certificate.
The $25 fee and where part of it goes
Each certificate costs $25, and the application notes that a portion of the fee is donated to the distressed cemetery fund, a detail that makes Delaware one of the few states whose death certificate price carries an earmark for abandoned burial grounds. If the record is not located the fee is retained for the search. A check or money order is made out to the State of Delaware. The applicant also sends a copy of an official valid photo identification, a driver license, state card or work card, and a parent's identification is needed for a child's record.
Three counters, one mailing address
The Office of Vital Statistics serves customers in person at three locations, all open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. except holidays: the New Castle County office at 258 Chapman Road in Newark, telephone 302-283-7130; the central office in Kent County at the James Williams State Service Center, 805 River Road, Dover, telephone 302-744-4549; and the Sussex County office at 546 South Bedford Street in Georgetown, telephone 302-515-3190.
The application lists the Dover office in the Jesse Cooper Building at 417 Federal Street, and the office page says it encourages individuals to mail their requests to the Dover office at the address printed on the form.
What the application asks for
The one page form is short. It asks for the name on the death certificate, the sex, the date of death written as eight digits, the place of death, and the names of both parents including each parent's last name at birth, followed by the number of copies requested, the relationship box and, for representatives, the client details. The applicant prints and signs a name, gives a street address, email and daytime telephone, and dates the certification that everything stated is true.
Because the fee buys a search, a wrong date or a maiden name written as a married name can turn a $25 payment into a search letter, so the form is worth checking against a funeral program or an obituary before it is mailed.
Ordering online through two vendors
Delaware names two card processors rather than one. GoCertificates takes orders through its website for an additional fee, and VitalChek takes them online or by telephone at 1-877-888-0248, also with its own fee; both accept American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa. The application prints both vendor addresses at the top as the route for credit card orders. A separate death certificate form exists for funeral directors ordering on behalf of a family.
Deaths more than 40 years old
Once a death record is 40 years old it is open to the public and the Delaware Public Archives is the place to use it. The Archives guide describes what an old death record may contain, the name, age, place of birth if known, residence, cause and place of death, parents' names, spouse, place of burial and the officials or witnesses present, while warning that the forms were not consistently filled in and that names were often recorded phonetically, so Roads, Rhodes and Rhoades should all be checked. Researchers work in pencil only, because ink can permanently destroy a record.
A written or emailed request to the Archives is limited to five specific pieces of information per letter, staff do a minimal search of the checklists and indexes and quote a price, and the minimum copy charge is $10 for up to ten pages with $5 for every further ten pages and no shipping charge. In the research room, microfilm prints and manuscript copies are 50 cents a page and a certified copy needed for legal reasons is $25. The Archives also points researchers at probate and Orphans' Court files, Trustees of the Poor, census, cemetery and newspaper sources for deaths that were never registered.
Deaths in another state, and other Delaware records
The Office of Vital Statistics holds only events that happened in Delaware, and the vital records it keeps are births, deaths and marriages. The birth side of the same office, including heirloom certificates, is covered in the Delaware birth certificates guide, and the Delaware public records law guide explains the Freedom of Information Act route for other state files. Each county Register of Wills, listed on the Delaware county pages, is where an estate is opened and where the short certificate that proves an executor's authority is issued.
Questions about Delaware death records
Related Delaware records
Delaware readers can continue with the Delaware birth certificates guide for the same office, the Delaware public records law guide, and the Delaware county pages for the Register of Wills and Recorder of Deeds in each county.
A death certificate is also what the Delaware DMV needs to move a vehicle out of the deceased owner's name: the Delaware title transfer from an estate, how a Delaware car title is transferred and the rest of the SearchSystems Delaware DMV guide.