Louisiana says it plainly on the how to order death records page: it is a closed record state, birth and death certificates are not public records, and every request needs proper identification, the right fee and a completed application. The request page gives the clock. Under state law a death record is strictly confidential until 50 years after the year of death, and a death record older than that is held by the Louisiana State Archives, where the Secretary of State runs a searchable death index and sells photocopies for $5 and certified copies for $10 by mail for deaths more than 50 years from the end of the current calendar year.
Inside the 50 years the Center for Vital Records and Statistics in New Orleans sells certified copies, and the service fees page explains that every fee is fixed by statute, mostly in R.S. 40:40, can change in any legislative session and is never waived. A death certificate is $7 a copy, with a 50 cent state charge added to each mail or VitalChek order. The same certificate bought at a participating clerk of court costs $26, which is the price of avoiding the 8 to 10 week mail wait for a death that occurred on or after July 7, 2012.
- $7 plus 50 cents: the state price of a certified death certificate, with a 50 cent state charge on every mail or VitalChek order.
- $26 at the courthouse: what a participating clerk of court charges for the same certificate, for deaths on or after July 7, 2012.
- 50 years: a death record is confidential for 50 years after the year of death, then moves to the State Archives with a searchable index and $10 certified copies.
- $10,000 or five years: the penalty the application cites for a willful false statement on a request for a vital record.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Louisiana's own systems: the Louisiana Department of Health page on how to order death records, the department's page on requesting a birth or death certificate, the Center for Vital Records and Statistics service fees page, the department's identification requirements page, the Louisiana application for a certified copy of a birth or death certificate, form VR S1, January 2026, the Louisiana Secretary of State historical death records page, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Who may order a Louisiana death certificate
The entitled list starts with family: the surviving spouse, who must be listed as such on the certificate, and a parent, adult child, sibling, grandparent or grandchild of the person named. Then it turns to the people who handle money and successions, each marked as a request that must go to the central office in person or by mail rather than to a service center. A person named in a court proceeding as a member of the immediate or surviving family qualifies.
So does the beneficiary of an insurance policy or trust, with a signed copy of the policy naming the applicant and a letter on the insurer's letterhead; a universal or general legatee under a judgment of possession; a beneficiary of a public pension, retirement account or private pension; and a beneficiary of a payable on death bank or securities account.
A succession representative applies with letters testamentary or letters of administration certified by the clerk of court. An attorney applies on letterhead with a bar roll number and identification, either representing an entitled person or declaring that he or she is preparing a small succession under Code of Civil Procedure article 3431; a notary assisting an heir with a small succession applies the same way with a notary number.
A bail bond surety's agent applies with the power of attorney when the deceased was party to a criminal bond, and a federally insured bank or credit union applies on official letterhead with the account number, the last four digits of the Social Security number and its FDIC or NCUA number, its representative showing an employee photo badge or a government identification with a business card. Anyone else needs an authorization of release signed by an entitled person under R.S. 40:41, with that person's identification.
Fees set by statute
A death certificate is $7 per copy, a birth certificate $15, an Orleans Parish marriage certificate $5 and an evidentiary document $10, and the fees page adds a 50 cent state charge to every mail or VitalChek order plus a security fee on VitalChek internet, telephone and kiosk orders. Mail payments are a check or money order payable to Louisiana Vital Records, and walk in payments cash, check or money order. When a document is ordered and no record is on file, R.S. 40:40(12) requires the fee to be kept to cover the search, which spans the year the applicant gives and two years on either side.
Amending a death record costs $25.50, including one certified copy of the corrected record. R.S. 40:40(10) adds a non refundable $18 fee for any correction of a vital event record, except an amendment started by the requester within 90 days of the date the record was registered, due when the amendment is submitted and kept even if the case is abandoned; a case inactive for six months is closed and the papers returned.
Identification and the penalty for lying
The identification page asks for one primary document or two secondary ones. Primary documents are a current state driver license or photo card, a current military card, a current United States or foreign passport, a certificate of naturalization or citizenship, or for a high school student a current yearbook or school photo card. Secondary documents include a Social Security card, original adoption papers, a certified deed, a vehicle title, an insurance policy in the applicant's name, a computer printed pay stub with name and Social Security number, a military dependent card, an original DD-214, a certified voter registration application, and two combinations that count as two documents on their own: a college photo card with a paid fee receipt for the current semester, or a W-2 from the last two years with an original signed Social Security card bearing the same number.
The page warns in capital letters that when an applicant provides or attests to false information, the person who signs the application is the person prosecuted, and the application form spells out the exposure: a willful false statement on an application for a certified copy of a vital record carries, on conviction, a fine of up to $10,000, imprisonment of up to five years, or both.
Walking in, mailing, or paying a clerk of court
The Vital Records Central Office at 1450 Poydras Street, Suite 400, New Orleans, serves walk in customers from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. except state holidays, with photo identification and the exact fee in cash, or a check or money order. A VitalChek order can be marked will call and picked up at the same counter once an email says it is ready. Mail goes to the Vital Records Registry, P.O. Box 60630, New Orleans, Louisiana 70160, with the application, a copy of the photo identification and the fee, and the department asks for approximately 8 to 10 weeks for delivery.
Participating Louisiana clerks of court sell certified death certificates for deaths on or after July 7, 2012, at the $26 clerk of court price on the fee schedule, which is the fastest in person option outside New Orleans.
Internet, telephone and fax orders run through VitalChek at 1-877-605-8562 with a major credit card, with that company's own fee and the state security fee added; the Office of Public Health takes no card payments or online orders itself. The customer service line at the center is 504-593-5100.
Deaths more than 50 years old at the State Archives
Once a death is more than 50 years from the end of the current calendar year its record leaves the health department. The Secretary of State historical death records page offers a Louisiana Death Records Index Database to search and sells photocopies by mail for $5 each and certified copies for $10 each. The state application prints the same referral, giving the Louisiana State Archives address as P.O. Box 94125, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70804-9125, for death records over 50 years old and birth records over 100.
Because the index is public, a researcher can confirm a death and its year before paying, something the closed record rule never allows for a recent death.
Fetal deaths, stillbirths and other certificates
The department also issues fetal death certificates, certificates of birth resulting in stillbirth and certificates of a miscarried child on request, and apostille copies of any vital record for foreign use. The fee schedule lists marriage certificates and licenses for Orleans Parish only, at $5 a certificate and $27.50 a license. The fee schedule prices a delayed certificate filing and an adoption, legitimation or paternity action at $27.50 each, both including one certified copy.
Where the record leads next
A Louisiana death opens a succession in the district court of the parish, and the small succession affidavit route that lets an attorney or notary order the death certificate is explained alongside probate files in the Louisiana court records guide. Property passing by judgment of possession is recorded by the parish clerk of court, covered in the Louisiana property records guide. The birth side of the center, including the birth card and the 100 year rule, is in the Louisiana birth certificates guide, and requests to other agencies in the Louisiana public records law guide.
Questions about Louisiana death records
Related Louisiana records
Louisiana readers can continue with the Louisiana birth certificates guide for the same center, Louisiana court records for successions, Louisiana property records for the parish clerk of court, the Louisiana public records law guide, and the Louisiana parish pages.