The Kentucky Office of Vital Statistics keeps death records from 1911 to the present for deaths that occurred in the state, and its certificate purchase options page sets the price at $6 per certificate for a death, stillbirth, marriage or divorce record, against $10 for a birth, with the fee described as a non refundable search fee. The death certificates page explains the logic: the office cannot by law provide information from records, perform a genealogical search or confirm that a certificate exists without a completed application and the fee, so the money pays for the search, a certified copy follows if the record is found, and nothing comes back if it is not.
What the office will not do is as notable as what it will. It does not issue photocopies, faxed copies, non certified copies or electronic copies of any record, for any year, and the only index it mentions is one sold to outside websites that may differ from the certificates on file. The VS-31 application asks the requester to state a relationship to the person on the certificate, but neither the form nor the purchase page publishes a list of who qualifies, and the form's own fee box simply reads $6 for each certified copy, payable to the Kentucky State Treasurer.
- $6 a copy: the price of a certified Kentucky death certificate, charged as a non refundable search fee whether or not the record is found.
- No uncertified copies: the office issues no photocopies, faxed, non certified or electronic copies of any year; the state archives sells uncertified 1911 to 1957 photocopies instead.
- 30 working days by mail: the outer limit the office quotes for a mailed order, against same day service for walk in customers before 3:45 p.m.
- VitalChek only: the one authorized online and telephone vendor, at $12.50 for an online order and $13.50 by telephone on top of the $6.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Kentucky's own systems: the Kentucky Office of Vital Statistics death certificates page, the office's certificate purchase options page, the Kentucky death certificate application, form VS-31, the office's guide to ordering a Kentucky birth, death, marriage or divorce record, the office's genealogy page, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
What the VS-31 application asks
The application for a certified copy of a death certificate, revised in December 2023, states at the top that certificates of death that occurred in Kentucky since 1911 are on file. It asks for the full name at death, the month, day and year of death with the age at the last birthday, the Kentucky city or town, county and hospital, the attending physician, the funeral service provider with its address and telephone, and then the requester's relationship to the person on the certificate, printed name, telephone, mailing address and signature.
The fee box reads that a fee is paid for certified copies or for a search of the files when no record is available, $6 for a certified copy and $6 for each additional copy, non refundable, by check or money order to the Kentucky State Treasurer.
The death certificates page lists the minimum it needs to search: the full name of the decedent, the month, day and year of death and the county of death, plus the requester's name, full mailing address, a daytime telephone number reachable between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Eastern time and the number of copies ordered.
Mail, the drop box and the 30 day clock
A mailed order carries a check or money order, never cash, drawn on a United States bank and payable to the Kentucky State Treasurer, sent with the application to the Office of Vital Statistics, 275 East Main Street, 1E-A, Frankfort, Kentucky 40621, with a return address on both the envelope and the form. The purchase page says orders received by mail or in the drop box are filled within five business days but that some take longer, and it asks customers to allow up to 30 working days for a certificate ordered through the mail; the application form puts the same 30 working days from the date the payment is posted.
The office's ordering guide breaks the 30 days into receipt, review, search and verification, payment processing, issuance, fulfillment and delivery, and adds that every certificate in one order ships to one address.
The drop box sits at the visitor entrance at 275 East Main Street, stocked with blank applications, for people who want to skip the counter but not the mail. The office also notes that new death certificates can be delayed when the funeral director or medical certifier has not promptly filed the original in Frankfort.
Same day at the counter in Frankfort
The office is reached from the Martin Luther King Boulevard entrance of the Human Resources Building, with signed visitor parking and a marked visitor entrance at the front. Applications are taken from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday except state holidays, and most eligible walk in requests are completed the same business day, though the office does not guarantee same day service after 3:45 p.m. and says an order of more than ten requests may take longer, with large orders handled within five business days where staffing allows. Walk in customers may pay with cash, check, money order, debit card or credit card.
Online and telephone orders through VitalChek
Online, telephone and fax orders go through VitalChek Network, which the office calls the Commonwealth's only authorized third party vendor, with a consumer alert warning that other sites charge excessive fees, are not affiliated with the office and may delay an order. VitalChek adds $12.50 to an online order and $13.50 to a telephone order, placed at (800) 241-8322 with fax orders at (866) 283-7477, takes American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa, and ships by regular mail or UPS for an extra charge.
Most VitalChek orders are processed in three to five business days excluding shipping, and the office receives them the next business day after submission.
A VitalChek order can also be marked for will call pickup at the Frankfort office, but the ordering guide is clear that will call is not same day: the customer is notified when the order is ready, must present proof of the order and a valid government photo identification, and must be eligible for the record. Anyone who needs a certificate the same day is told to come to the office during business hours instead.
Deaths before 1911, and the one place that sells photocopies
The genealogy page sends researchers to two other agencies for deaths before 1911. The Kentucky Historical Society in Frankfort holds the birth and death records some counties collected under an 1850 act of the General Assembly, covering 1851 to 1862, after which registration lapsed, was re enacted in the mid 1870s and was abandoned by many counties within a few years. The Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives holds birth and death records for Louisville, Lexington, Covington and Newport kept under city ordinances before 1911.
The archives also does what the vital statistics office refuses to do: it issues uncertified photocopies of Kentucky death certificates on file for 1911 to 1957, while the Office of Vital Statistics issues no uncertified copies or photocopies for any year.
The genealogy page notes that outside websites have bought the state's indexes, including a death index for 1911 to 2000, and warns that the office is not responsible for their content and that index entries may not match the certificate on file.
Autopsy reports and causes of death
An autopsy report is not a vital record in Kentucky. The death certificates page says a Kentucky autopsy report is obtained by written request to the coroner in the county where the death occurred, and that the local county government office or the funeral home that handled the decedent can identify the right coroner, with the Kentucky Coroners Association website as a further pointer. The office also publishes a VS-33 supplemental form for death records and runs the electronic death registration system through which funeral directors and certifiers file.
Where the record leads next
Marriage and divorce certificates come from the same office at the same $6 on form VS-230, and the office sells a single status letter that reports a search of marriage records from an applicant's date of birth. The estate that follows a death opens in the district court, covered by the Kentucky court records guide, and a deed passing to heirs is recorded by the county clerk described in the Kentucky property records guide. The birth side of the office is in the Kentucky birth certificates guide, and requests to other agencies in the Kentucky public records law guide.
Questions about Kentucky death records
Related Kentucky records
Kentucky readers can continue with the Kentucky birth certificates guide for the same office, Kentucky court records for probate, Kentucky property records for the county clerk, the Kentucky public records law guide, and the Kentucky county pages for every coroner and county clerk.