Minnesota draws its line between the record and the certificate rather than between family and strangers. The who can order records page says all Minnesota death records are public, so anyone may buy a noncertified, informational death record printed on plain paper, while a death certificate, the certified version on security paper that banks and insurers accept, goes only to the people state law lists. The available records and services page prices both at $13, and it says the Department of Health has death records from 1908 onward, with earlier deaths held only by the county where they occurred.
The second thing the department says is where to go. All 87 counties offer vital records services from the same statewide system, so a customer can be served in any county regardless of where the death happened or where the customer lives, usually while waiting, and can sign the request form in front of county staff instead of a notary. The state office in St. Paul offers no in person service at all; it takes orders by mail or fax, requires a notarized signature on most requests, and posts the dates it has reached. As of October 13, 2026 it had mailed death certificates for orders received through October 9, 2026, and birth record amendments for orders received through September 10.
- All death records public: anyone may buy a $13 noncertified informational copy of any Minnesota death record.
- $13 certificate: a certified death certificate costs the same $13 and goes to listed relatives, the personal representative, successors, trustees and others who prove a right.
- Verify a death free: the department's online index confirms a death since 1997 by name plus birth date or Social Security number, showing the date and state file number.
- Any county, same day: all 87 county offices work from one system and usually fill an order while the customer waits; the state office is mail and fax only.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Minnesota's own systems: the Minnesota Department of Health vital records and certificates page, the department's page on who can order records, the department's available records and services page, the department's page on changing a death record, the department's Verify a Death search for deaths from 1997, the department's directory of county vital records offices, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Who can get the certified death certificate
The eligible requesters for a public death certificate are the spouse named on the record, a child of the subject, a parent named on the subject's record, a grandparent or great grandparent, a grandchild or great grandchild, and a sibling, none of whom need extra documents. The estate side follows: the subject's personal representative who needs the certificate to administer the estate, a successor of the subject who needs it for the same purpose, and the trustee of a trust who needs it to administer the estate, again with no extra paper.
A person or entity that needs the certificate to determine or protect a personal or property right brings documentation of the claim that says a certified record is required.
Professionals and officials round out the list. An attorney representing the subject or an eligible requester gives a Minnesota license number or a copy of an out of state license. A representative of a local, state, tribal or federal agency that needs the certificate for its duties shows an employee identification, as does an adoption agency completing a post adoption search. A person with a United States court order directing release sends the order, not a subpoena.
Any eligible requester can appoint a representative with a signed statement naming the representative, describing the relationship to the subject, identifying the record and granting permission. The department adds that giving false information to obtain a vital record is illegal and can bring fines, jail or both.
What the two copies cost and what they show
A death certificate and a noncertified death record both cost $13, and both show the name, sex, date and place of death and parent information printed in capital letters; the death record also lists the funeral home, the cause of death and the medical certifier. The certificate is issued on security paper as a legal document, the noncertified record on plain paper for information only. A death certificate for a claim to the United States Veterans Administration is free and is printed with a statement across the top limiting its use, available to the veteran's surviving spouse or next of kin, to service officers of congressionally chartered veterans organizations, to county veteran service officers and to Department of Veterans Affairs representatives.
Fees are due with the request, are not refunded even if the record cannot be found or the order cannot be filled, and the state office deposits them the day they arrive, before the request is reviewed; it sends a no record found statement when nothing matches. The state takes credit cards, checks and money orders. A delayed registration of a death more than a year after it happened costs $40 through the state office only.
Signing in front of a notary or a county clerk
Every certificate requester must provide identification and sign the request form in front of a notary public or county vital records staff, attesting to eligibility, and some categories add documents. By mail or fax to the state office the notary is unavoidable, which is why the department suggests banks, libraries and mailbox shops as places to find one. A requester who has no acceptable identification can bring a witness to complete the Statement to Identify form, swearing to the requester's identity.
Vital records offices cannot accept emailed applications or send purchased records electronically, and the state office processes orders in the order received, posting its progress dates on the vital records page.
Verifying a death online for nothing
The Verify a Death page searches an index of deaths that occurred in Minnesota in 1997 or later, the year electronic death registration began, and is updated each time a fact of death is filed. The searcher enters the first and last name and either the date of birth or the Social Security number, and a match shows the decedent's name, the date of death and the state file number of the record. An exact match is required, so a middle name or a transposed digit produces no record found, and the department says a failed search does not prove the death is unregistered.
For earlier deaths it points to the Minnesota Historical Society, whose online people records search covers deaths from 1904 to 2001 and whose library staff in St. Paul will search the state vital record system, and it notes that some county offices have public viewing stations for looking up births and deaths.
Any county, or the state by mail
The directory of county offices lists every county, from the Aitkin County Recorder at 307 Second Street NW to the Anoka County vital records office in the government center, with the note that all 87 counties offer vital records services from the same statewide system and can serve customers from anywhere. Death records from 1908 to the present are available from every office; a death before 1908 is available only from the county where it occurred.
The state office, reached at 651-201-5970 or by email, takes mail and fax orders on the Death Certificate Request form, available in English and Spanish, and says its orders can take days or weeks against the same day service of a county counter.
Changing a death record
The change a death record page runs on timing. Within a year of the death, if no certificate has been issued, the informant on the record may ask the funeral home to correct it at no charge and without a supporting document. Within a year but after a certificate has been issued, the informant uses the funeral home or the Death Record Amendment Packet at any vital records office for $40, still without a supporting document. Between one and five years the packet goes to any vital records office with a supporting document and the $40 fee, and after five years only the state office handles it, with the same document and fee.
A certificate showing the change must be bought after the amendment is complete, and the department notes that the all capitals format of a record is not a reason for an amendment.
The cause or manner of death is never changed through the packet. That request goes to the medical certifier named on the certificate, or to the coroner or medical examiner of the county where the death occurred, who may also ask for the change.
Stillbirths, marriages and the records beyond the office
A certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth costs $16 and a noncertified fetal death report $9, both from the state office only, with a fetal death correction free and a delayed registration $40. The department records no marriages or divorces: a marriage certificate comes from the county that issued the license and a divorce decree from the district court, with most marriages searchable in the Minnesota Official Marriage System.
An apostille comes from the Secretary of State, not the department. The probate file that follows a death is covered in the Minnesota court records guide, the county recorder where a deed passes in the Minnesota property records guide, the birth side of the office in the Minnesota birth certificates guide, and other agency files under the Data Practices Act in the Minnesota public records law guide.
Questions about Minnesota death records
Related Minnesota records
Minnesota readers can continue with the Minnesota birth certificates guide for the same office, Minnesota court records for probate, Minnesota property records for the county recorder, the Minnesota public records law guide, and the Minnesota county pages for all 87 vital records offices.