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

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.