The Vermont Department of Health's order vital records page, updated June 30, 2026, sets out two products. A certified copy, printed on state engraved security paper with a raised seal, costs $10 per certificate, a figure fixed by 18 V.S.A. 5017, plus a $2 processing fee when ordered online. A noncertified copy, printed on plain white paper with a noncertified copy watermark, is available at no charge, requested by email with the type of event, the names on the certificate and the date. Only family members, legal guardians, certain court appointed parties and their legal representatives can apply for the certified version of a death certificate, and a funeral home or crematorium may as well; the free copy carries no such list on the page.
Since July 1, 2019, under Act 46 of 2017, every birth and death record from January 1, 1909 onward lives in the department's Statewide Registry System, and the Department of Health, all town and city clerks and the Vermont State Archives and Records Administration are each authorized to issue certified and noncertified copies from it. The department itself calls the town or city clerk the fastest and cheapest route for anyone in Vermont: a clerk can issue any birth or death certificate from 1909 to the present, plus earlier ones filed in that office. Vermont towns have recorded deaths since 1779, the state registry began in 1857, and the archives history page explains how the 1857 to 1968 volumes ended up in the State Archives.
- $10 certified: the certified copy fee is set by 18 V.S.A. 5017 at $10 per certificate, with $2 added for an online order.
- Free noncertified: a watermarked plain paper copy of any death certificate since 1909 is issued at no charge on an email request.
- Any town clerk: every town and city clerk issues from the statewide registry, so the clerk in Burlington can print a certificate for a death in Brattleboro.
- The family cannot correct it: a death certificate is corrected within six months or amended afterward only on an application from the certifier, the medical examiner, the hospital, the nursing home or the funeral director.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Vermont's own systems: the Vermont Department of Health page on ordering vital records, the application for a certified copy of a Vermont birth or death certificate, May 2026, the department's instructions for the certified copy application, March 2026, the Vermont vital records home page, the searchable index of Vermont births and deaths, the Vermont State Archives page on the state vital records registry, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Who may apply for a certified death certificate
The May 2026 application lists the relationships that qualify under 18 V.S.A. 5016(b)(2), and the applicant ticks one. For a death they are the spouse, a child, a parent, a sibling, a grandchild, a grandparent, the legal guardian, a court appointed executor or administrator, a petitioner for the decedent's estate, a legal representative of any of those, a person authorized by court order who encloses a certified copy of the order, the person with authority for final disposition, the Social Security Administration, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, the deceased's insurance carrier, and an employee of a Vermont public agency under 18 V.S.A. 5016(a)(6).
Self applies to birth certificates only. The instructions add that nobody outside that list may receive a certified copy.
The form itself asks for the date and town of death, the name on the certificate, the sex as male, female or non-binary, and both parents' names, with the mother's or parent's last name before first marriage. Each type of certificate and each person needs its own application, but several copies of one certificate go on a single form. Signing it certifies eligibility, and 18 V.S.A. 131(c) punishes a knowingly false statement on the application with a fine of up to $10,000, up to six months in prison, or both.
Identification and the matching address
A certified copy requires a copy of one current primary document: a United States or territory driver license or identification card, a tribal or military card bearing a signature, a United States or foreign passport, a United States visa inside a passport, a permanent resident card, an employment authorization card, a State of Vermont employee card, an Affidavit of Homeless Status or Department of Corrections documentation of identity.
Without one, two documents from a second list must together show the current address and a signature: an employer photo card with a pay stub or W-2, a school card with proof of enrollment, a corrections card, a signed Social Security or Medicare card, a pilot license, a vehicle registration, a selective service or voter card, a filed federal tax form, a bank statement, property or utility bill, a court document, a receipt from a licensed health care provider, or first class mail with the name and address.
The instructions insist that the address on the identification match the applicant's mailing address on the application, since the certificate is sent there.
Ordering from a clerk, online or by mail
A Vermonter walks into any town or city clerk's office, which issues both certified and noncertified copies for any death from January 1, 1909 forward and earlier deaths filed in that town; the Vermont county pages lead to the towns. An applicant out of state, or in no hurry, orders online through the state's ordering service with a credit card and the $2 fee. By mail, the completed and signed application goes with the identification copy, a check or money order in United States funds payable to the Vermont Department of Health and a self addressed envelope to Vermont Department of Health, Vital Records, 280 State Drive, Waterbury, VT 05671-8370.
The office answers at 800-439-5008 inside Vermont or 802-863-7275. The archives also issue copies on request through their own service.
The free noncertified copy and the public index
The noncertified copy is the unusual part of the Vermont system. For a death from 1909 to the present, an email to the vital records office giving the type of event, the name on the certificate and the date brings back a plain paper copy watermarked noncertified, at no charge; the page lists no relationship requirement for it, which makes Vermont one of the few states where a researcher or a journalist can read a recent death certificate without paying.
Before asking, the searchable index of Vermont births and deaths registered from 1909 to the present, updated weekly, confirms the date and town, and the department's instructions tell applicants to check it so that the names and dates on the application are right.
Correcting or amending a death certificate
Vermont draws its line at six months. A death certificate may be corrected within six months of the death or amended after six months, but in either case the application comes from the certifying licensed health care professional, the medical examiner, the hospital, the nursing home or the funeral director, not from the family. A relative who spots a misspelled name or a wrong date of birth therefore goes back to the funeral home that filed the record through the Electronic Death Registration System, or to the physician, physician assistant, naturopathic physician or advanced practice registered nurse who certified the cause of death, since the vital records home page explains that only those professionals may complete and certify the cause.
Marriage certificates follow a similar six month rule through the town clerk, with a court order afterward.
Older deaths and the archives
Statewide reporting of deaths began in 1857, when Act 63 of 1856 required town clerks to send annual lists to the Secretary of State, moving to semiannual returns in 1902 and monthly certified copies in 1908, and in 1919 towns were ordered to transcribe every birth, marriage and death in their own and church records, with gravestone inscriptions for deaths before 1870, onto cards at five cents each. The recording volumes from 1857 to 1968 were accessioned into the Vermont State Archives in 2008, while everything from 1909 returned to the Department of Health.
For a death before 1909 the town clerk where it was filed and the archives are the sources; for anything later, the statewide registry. The reference archivists answer at 802-828-2308.
Births, estates and the public records law
The same application covers birth certificates, and the Vermont birth certificates guide explains the self relationship, the six month name change window and the adoptee access law in force since July 1, 2023. A death starts probate in the probate division of the superior court, covered under Vermont court records, and land passes through the town clerks who also record deeds, described under Vermont property records. Because a noncertified copy is free and the index is public, a public records request is rarely needed for a death record; the Vermont public records law guide handles the rest of state government.
Questions about Vermont death records
Related Vermont records
Vermont readers can move on to the Vermont birth certificates guide, which uses the same application, the probate division under Vermont court records, the town land records under Vermont property records, the Public Records Act under Vermont public records law, and the towns on the Vermont county pages.