The South Dakota Department of Health states on its order vital records page, last updated September 14, 2026, that a $15 search fee applies to every certificate requested, that the fee is required before any search begins, and that if no record is located the money is kept and the applicant receives a Notification of Records Searched. The same $15 buys either a certified copy, computer generated on security paper with a raised seal and the signature of the issuing agent, or an informational copy on plain paper stamped for informational purposes only and not for legal proof of identification. Copies are never faxed or emailed.
What sets the state apart is where the counter is. A death certificate can be ordered in person or by mail at the State Office at 221 West Capitol Avenue in Pierre or at any of the 64 county Registers of Deeds, because the state and the counties each hold a set of the standard records and every county can reach the central database. The genealogy page explains that the vital records system took effect in July 1905, that each county keeps a copy of the deaths that occurred there while the department holds the originals for the whole state, and that some counties hold records filed before 1905 as well.
- $15 for any copy: the search fee is $15 whether a certified or an informational copy is wanted, and it is kept when no record is found.
- Pierre or any county: the State Office and all 64 Registers of Deeds issue South Dakota death certificates, whatever county the death occurred in.
- Certified needs eligibility: a certified copy goes to the spouse, children, parents, guardian, next of kin, an authorized or designated agent or someone with a property right; the informational copy carries no such list.
- Photostatic for genealogy: a photocopy of the original certificate, certified or informational, is available when the computer generated copy lacks the detail a researcher needs.
Written by SearchSystems.net from South Dakota's own systems: the South Dakota Department of Health order vital records page, the department's vital records fees page, the department's eligibility and identification page, the department's genealogy resources page, the South Dakota vital records home page, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Who can have a certified copy
The eligibility page begins with the law: vital records filed in South Dakota are not open for public inspection, and an applicant must meet the eligibility rules to obtain a certified copy. The list runs to the registrant, the spouse and children, a parent or guardian, next of kin defined as grandparents and siblings, an authorized agent such as an attorney, physician or funeral director who may be asked for documentation, a designated agent given authority by an eligible person and named in the designated agent section of the application, and anyone with a personal or property right to the record outside those categories, who will be asked to explain the right. Proof of relationship may be required at the time of the request.
The informational copy is the other half of the system. It comes off the same computer, on plain paper, without the raised seal or the agent's signature, and it cannot be used for legal proof of identification. The page describes it as the copy issued when the applicant does not qualify for a certified one, and the genealogy page recommends the informational photostatic version for anyone not using the record for legal or lineage society purposes.
A certified copy will not issue for a birth record that lacks a first name until an amendment is filed, a rule the office states for births but which shows how literally the certified copy follows the register.
Photostatic copies of the original record
A photostatic copy is a photocopy of the original certificate rather than the computer generated version, and the office offers it when the printed abstract leaves out something the applicant needs, which for a 1920s death usually means the informant, the cause of death as the physician wrote it, or the burial details. A certified photostatic copy carries the raised seal and signature and serves for legal purposes; an informational photostatic copy does not.
The office warns that it cannot guarantee the quality of an old image and will print the best possible copy. Genealogy orders must go by mail to the State Office, never online or by phone, because the mail process allows for spelling variants and uncertain dates and gives a better chance of finding the record.
Ordering by mail, with a notary or an identification copy
A mailed request goes to the State Office at 221 West Capitol Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501, or to any Register of Deeds, with the completed application either signed in front of a notary or accompanied by a clear copy of a state, tribal or federal photo identification, and the $15 fee by check or money order payable to the South Dakota Department of Health. An applicant with neither a notary nor a photo card sends copies of two further documents: a Social Security card, a utility bill or bank statement with the current address, a car registration or title with the address, or a pay stub showing name, Social Security number and the employer's address.
Processing times vary by location, and a prepaid priority envelope sent to the State Office buys expedited handling.
In person, online and by phone
At the counter in Pierre or at a Register of Deeds the applicant completes and signs the application, pays the fee and shows identification. Cash, check and money order are taken everywhere; a credit or debit card carries a $2.50 surcharge, and the page notes that payment options vary by location, so a small county office may not take cards at all. The South Dakota county pages list each Register of Deeds. Online and telephone orders go only through VitalChek, the one vendor the department has authorized, by web or at 605-773-4961, and the card must be in the applicant's own name.
The vendor charge is itemized on the state page: the $15 certificate, a $6.50 VitalChek fee and a $5 expedite fee for a $26.50 total by regular mail, or $44 with UPS Next Day. The expedite fee is charged once per order and each further record on the same order adds $15.
Fees for amendments and delayed filings
The fees page, citing administrative rule 44:09:06:02, prices every certified or informational copy and every verification or notification of records searched at $15. Amending a birth, death or marriage record one year or more after the event costs $8 on an amendment form, without a new copy, but certified or informational copies already bought can be exchanged for the amended version at no cost. Preparing and filing a delayed death certificate is $15, again without a copy.
The expedite fee that applies only to phone and internet orders is listed at $11.50 on the fees page, which covers regular mail shipping, handling and electronic authentication, while the ordering page breaks it into the $6.50 vendor fee and $5 expedite charge. Fee waivers exist for military members and for Head Start, school enrollment and youth baseball, all of them for birth certificates.
Counties, indexes and the state search
County death indexes are available for genealogical research only to research members of the South Dakota Genealogical Society, through research cards the society issues. The state keeps no public index; the department says its indexing system is complex enough to need technical help, so it performs every search itself for the $15 fee. A tribal marriage or divorce can be obtained only from the tribe, a divorce certificate only from the State Office, and a divorce decree only from the clerk of courts in the county where the divorce was filed, courts the South Dakota court records guide describes.
The office at 605-773-4961 is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central, Monday through Friday, and answers at vitalrecords@state.sd.us.
Births, stillbirths and the public records law
The same office issues birth certificates, with records more than 100 years old published online, and a $10 certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth, described in the South Dakota birth certificates guide. Because the statute closes vital records to public inspection, a death certificate is not reached through an open records request; the South Dakota public records law guide sets out what the open records statute reaches, and the Register of Deeds who sells the death certificate is the same official who records the deeds described under South Dakota property records.
Questions about South Dakota death records
Related South Dakota records
Also for South Dakota: the South Dakota birth certificates guide, the circuit courts under South Dakota court records, the Registers of Deeds under South Dakota property records, the open records law under South Dakota public records law, and all 64 counties on the South Dakota county pages.