The New Hampshire Division of Vital Records Administration, a division of the Secretary of State at 9 Ratification Way in Concord, issues certified death certificates alongside all 234 city and town clerks, and its request for certificates page sets the price at a $15 search fee, payable whether or not a record is found, with additional copies of the same record issued at the same time at $10. RSA 5-C:10 requires the nonrefundable search fee for each record, and if the record is located and the applicant is eligible, the certified copy itself comes with the search. Credit card transactions add their own costs.
The application for a certified copy, revised in July 2025, makes a New Hampshire death certificate unusual. The death section asks how much information the copy should carry, with three choices: with the cause and manner of death, with the manner of death only, or without cause or manner, and then whether the Social Security number should be suppressed, and on how many of the copies. A family can therefore order one full certificate for the life insurer and several stripped copies for banks and utilities on a single form. RSA 5-C:14, in the chapter the division's statutory authority page links, makes a willfully false statement on an application for a certified copy a Class B felony.
- $15 then $10: the search fee is $15, kept whether or not a record is found, and includes the first certified copy; additional copies at the same time are $10 each.
- Pick the version: the application lets the applicant choose a copy with cause and manner of death, with manner only, or with neither, and suppress the Social Security number.
- Open before 1961: death, marriage and divorce records before 1961 and birth records before 1911 are open to anyone in the research room or by mail.
- 234 clerks: every city and town clerk in New Hampshire issues certified copies of vital records to applicants with a direct and tangible interest.
Written by SearchSystems.net from New Hampshire's own systems: the New Hampshire Division of Vital Records Administration request for certificates page, the New Hampshire application for a certified copy of a vital record, revised July 2025, the division's frequently asked questions, the division's contact information page, the New Hampshire vital records home page, the division's statutory authority and rules page, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Direct and tangible interest under RSA 5-C:102
New Hampshire vital records are private, and the statute quoted on the back of the application names who has a direct and tangible interest: the registrant, a member of the registrant's immediate family, the legal guardian, the legal representative, a person who shows a need for the information to determine or protect a personal or property right, members of the press, radio, television and other news media when the information is of a public nature, persons authorized by the immediate family to conduct genealogical research, and a divorced or legally separated spouse seeking the divorce or separation record.
The natural parents of a child adopted outside the family have no such interest in the child's records.
Anyone outside the immediate family claims the interest in writing. Paragraph VI of the statute requires a letter describing and documenting the claim, which record is needed, why, and any evidence, reviewed by the state registrar or the city or town clerk; paragraph VII says the claim is approved when the evidence satisfies the reviewer and denied otherwise, with a right of appeal. An attorney or an attorney's agent identifies the firm with a business card or stationery, names the client and submits the evidence.
The frequently asked questions add that immediate legal family members are treated as having the interest in records that remain restricted because of their age.
Identification and the mailing address rule
Since January 1, 2005, everyone requesting a certified copy under RSA 5-C:102, VI must present positive identification, such as a driver license, passport or other government picture identification, and an applicant without one completes the Documentary Evidence for Individuals Not Possessing an Acceptable Picture Identification form. A mailed application carries a legible photocopy of the identification and, when the mailing address on the form differs from the one on the identification, proof of that address such as a utility bill, lease or vehicle registration; without proof, a notarized letter on the Assignment of Additional Mailing Address form authorizes delivery elsewhere.
A separate Assignment of Third-Party Access form lets an eligible person authorize someone else.
Mailing the application to Concord
The completed application, with both the event and the applicant sections filled in, goes with a check or money order in United States funds payable to Treasurer-State of New Hampshire, the identification copy, any address proof and a self addressed stamped envelope to NH Department of State, Division of Vital Records Administration, Registration/Certification, 9 Ratification Way, Concord, NH 03301-2455. The division asks for 20 business days from receipt for a mailed request.
The death section of the form asks for the decedent's name including a maiden name, the date and city or town of death and the date of birth if known, and the applicant states the reason for the request, the relationship to the registrant and whether an apostille is required.
In person, at a clerk, or through a vendor
A visit to the Concord office usually produces the certificate while the applicant waits. The contact page gives lobby hours of 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., research room hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., telephones answered from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at 603-271-4650, and the address of 9 Ratification Way, formerly 71 South Fruit Street for GPS purposes, with vitalrecords@sos.nh.gov for email. Any city or town clerk issues the same certified copies for the same $15 search fee, and the New Hampshire county pages lead to the towns.
For a rush, the division names two credit card vendors it has no affiliation with: VitalChek, at 877-878-8007, and EB2Gov, which works through the local clerks; each adds processing and shipping charges to the $15, and the division has no record of an order until the vendor forwards it.
Deaths before 1961 and the research room
New Hampshire statutes exempt older records from the access rules: birth records before 1911 and death, marriage and divorce records before 1961 are available with unrestricted access. Researchers use the Genealogical Research Center in the Records and Archives Building at 9 Ratification Way, where volunteer genealogists help, and the division's vault holds records dating back to 1640. The frequently asked questions give the research room hours as 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, while the contact page says 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., so a visitor planning a late afternoon should call first.
Alternatively a completed application, identification and the $15 fee mailed to the division buys a staff search of the old records.
Correcting a death record
The division's frequently asked questions explain corrections in terms of a birth certificate, but the principle is general: any person directly interested in a record may apply to have missing information added or errors corrected, ordinarily the registrant, a parent or the legal representative, and the division handles the paperwork under RSA 5-C and the rules linked from its statutory authority page, which also lists RSA 290 on burials and disinterments.
The office answers questions about amending a death certificate at 603-271-4650. Divorce records are court records as well as vital records; the New Hampshire court records guide covers the circuit court probate division where an estate is opened with the death certificate.
Births and the Right to Know law
The same application and the same clerks issue birth certificates, with records before 1911 open and the heirloom certificate option, covered in the New Hampshire birth certificates guide. Because RSA 5-C makes vital records private, the Right to Know law does not open a recent death certificate; the New Hampshire public records law guide explains that law and the Right to Know Ombudsman, and the registries of deeds that record what the deceased owned are described under New Hampshire property records.
Questions about New Hampshire death records
Related New Hampshire records
Where New Hampshire readers usually go next: the New Hampshire birth certificates guide, the circuit court probate division under New Hampshire court records, the registries of deeds under New Hampshire property records, the Right to Know law under New Hampshire public records law, and the town clerks on the New Hampshire county pages.
A death certificate is also what the New Hampshire DMV needs to move a vehicle out of the deceased owner's name: the New Hampshire title transfer from an estate, the New Hampshire vehicle title and the rest of the New Hampshire DMV guide.