California - Vital Record Retrieval Guide
Procurement of Vital Records California
Certified Copy of Birth & Death Certificates
Where: California Department of Public Health: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CHSI/Pages/Vital-Records.aspx
Office in Charge: The California Department of Public Health – Vital Records (CDPH-VR) maintains a permanent, public record of every birth that has occurred in California since July 1905.
How do you order:
- *Event must have occurred in county selected
Fees
Certified birth records are $29 per copy.
Processing Time:
CDPH-VR's average time to process a certified copy request is 6 to 8 weeks.
Requirements for ordering:
- Applicant’s valid photo identification is required: Driver’s License, State Identification Card, Passport, Military Identification Card.
Who can apply for a birth or death certificate?
The registrant (person listed on the certificate) or a parent or legal guardian of the registrant.
- A child, grandparent, grandchild, brother or sister, spouse, or domestic partner of the registrant.
- A party entitled to receive the record as a result of a court order, or an attorney or a licensed adoption agency seeking the birth record in order to comply with the requirements of Section 3140 or 7603 of the California Family Code.
- A member of a law enforcement agency or a representative of another governmental agency, as provided by law, who is conducting official business. (Companies representing a government agency must provide authorization from the government agency.)
- An attorney representing the registrant or the registrant's estate.
- Any person or agency empowered by statute or appointed by a court to act on behalf of the registrant or the registrant's estate. (If you are requesting a Certified Copy under a power of attorney, please include a copy of the power of attorney with the application form.)
- Any agent or employee of a funeral establishment who acts within the course and scope of his or her employment and who orders certified copies of a death certificate on behalf of an individual specified in paragraphs (1) to (5), inclusive, of subdivision (a) of Section 7100 of the Health and Safety Code.
If you cannot obtain an authorized copy under California law, you can obtain an informational copy. An informational copy contains the same information as an authorized copy, but will have a legend across the face with the statement "Informational, Not a Valid Document to Establish Identity." Authorized and informational copies are both “certified copies" and are the same cost.
Marriage & Divorce Certificates
Where:
The California Department of Public Health – Vital Records (CDPH-VR) can ONLY provide certified copies of certificates for public marriages that occurred in the years:
- 1905 to 1999
- 2009 to 2020
CDPH-VR does not maintain records of confidential marriages.
2000–2008 and 2021–2022
CDPH Vital Records is not able to provide certified copies of certificates for the years 2000 through 2008, and for 2021 - 2022. You will need to contact the County Recorder's Office in the county where the marriage license was issued. CDPH Vital Records is continually indexing marriage records and will post updates on the website as more years become available for request.
Requesting a Certified Copy
- *Event must have occurred in county selected
Fees
Certified marriage records are $17 per copy.
Please view our current Fees. Requests received without the appropriate fee will be returned to the sender. Make your check or money order payable to CDPH Vital Records. Checks must be drawn on a United States bank. Money orders must be drawn on a United States bank or issued by the United States Postal Service.
Please do not send cash by mail. CDPH cannot be held responsible for fees paid that are lost, misdirected, or undelivered.
Processing Times
Please view our current Processing Times. The processing time begins when CDPH-VR receives your request.
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