How Wyoming Death Records Work

Wyoming closes death certificates for 50 years — immediate family, their attorney, or a death-benefit payer only — then transfers them to the State Archives as open records. Ordering is old-school: mail or in person, with a notarized application. No informational copies inside the window.

Mail orders require a notarized application, and fees include a $5 surcharge that funds indigent burials. Content reviewed July 30, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.

Where to Order

Wyoming Vital Record Services (WDH)
Official Free
The official custodian. Application forms, current fees, eligibility rules, and processing times — order direct and skip the third-party markup.
🌐 health.wyo.gov
CDC — Where to Write for Vital Records
Official Free
The federal directory of every state's vital records office — the authoritative answer to 'where do I order' for any state and any year.
🌐 www.cdc.gov

When You Can't Get the Certificate

1
Try the index first
Often you don't need the certificate at all — you need proof the death happened. No state online index or ordering portal; certificates for 1909–1971 are on Ancestry via the State Archives. Where an index exists, it answers the question for free.
2
Obituaries and the SSDI
The obituary route is faster than most official channels: newspaper obituaries via library databases, funeral-home notices, and the Social Security death index carried on the big genealogy platforms together confirm most deaths within minutes.
3
Let probate prove it
Probate is the overlooked confirmer: if an estate was opened, the county court file proves the death, names the parties, and often matters more than the certificate itself — run it through Wyoming court records.
4
When only the certificate will do
When it truly must be the certificate: the rules above apply — 50 years after death in Wyoming — and the custodian card at the top is the direct channel. For family history at scale, pair this page with the Wyoming birth certificates guide, whose clock runs differently.

Frequently Asked Questions

When do Wyoming death certificates become public?
Wyoming closes death certificates for 50 years — immediate family, their attorney, or a death-benefit payer only — then transfers them to the State Archives as open records.
Can I get a copy if I'm not family?
No informational copies inside the window.
Can I search Wyoming deaths online for free?
No state online index or ordering portal; certificates for 1909–1971 are on Ancestry via the State Archives.
What if I just need to confirm a death or find an obituary?
Skip the certificate entirely: newspaper obituaries (many are indexed by library databases), the Social Security death index carried on the big genealogy platforms, and probate case files in the county court that handled the estate all confirm a death without touching the restricted certificate.

Related Wyoming Records

The Wyoming vital records page covers the full birth-marriage-death picture; birth certificates follow their own (usually longer) privacy clock; probate lives in Wyoming court records; and people search shows how death records fit a full person lookup. County pages list the local offices that issue copies.