Please note: If you are ordering a death certificate for a death that occurred within the last 90 days, the death certificate may not yet be available. Please expect that these orders will take longer than the estimated processing times.

Ordering Death Certificates through TexasOnline
Texas death certificates can now be ordered through TexasOnline, the official eGovernment website for the State of Texas. The current estimated processing time for TexasOnline orders is 10-15 business days.

Death certificates for deaths within the past 25 years are considered protected records, and TexasOnline has the following requirements for requesting these records:

If you live in Texas, you can order the records of your immediate family members. If you live outside Texas, you must be the surviving spouse of the deceased, a parent of the deceased or the funeral director of the funeral home on the record.
You must have a valid state-issued driver's license or government-issued ID card.
You must be ordering a record that is to be delivered within the United States, to U.S. territories or U.S. commonwealths, or to U.S. military addresses (APO, FPO).
You must have a valid credit card.

If you do not meet these criteria, you cannot use TexasOnline to request a death certificate from the past 25 years, but you can make the request by following the instructions below.

Go to TexasOnline

Go to table showing alternate application methods

Offline instructions for ordering a death certificate

Fill out an application for a certified copy of a birth or death certificate. For deaths that occurred 25 years ago to the present, only the immediate family members to the name on the death certificate are eligible to request a copy. If you are not an immediate family member, you must provide legal documentation, such as an insurance policy listing you as a beneficiary, that documents a direct and tangible interest in the record.

Send in the application with payment using one of the methods listed in the table below. If the death occurred within the last 25 years, you must include a photocopy of your valid photo government-issued ID. The following are acceptable forms of ID:

State-issued driver's license

State/city/county ID card

Student ID

Government employment badge or card

Prison ID

Military ID

If you do not have photo ID, an alternative would be to send a copy of the photo ID of an immediate family member or copies of two documents with your name, such as a utility bill and your Social Security card. One of the documents must have your signature.

Applications where the death on the death certificate was within the last 25 years received without photo ID or the alternatives listed above will not be processed.

The estimated response time is accurate for most requests, but will vary depending on the circumstances. Please note that death certificates for recent deaths may be delayed. If you are paying by check, make checks payable to: DSHS.

Application methods	Instructions	Cost	Payment methods accepted	Processing time for most requests
In person at the Central Vital Statistics Office in Austin	Visit our office at 1100 West 49th Street Austin, TX 78756 Monday-Friday 8 am - 5 pm	$20–First copy $3–Additional copies	Cash Check Money order	Orders are processed as quickly as possible. Some orders can be done in 30 minutes to 2 hours while others may require several days processing time.
Expedited service for offline requests Request must be sent to our office via overnight mail service such as UPS, FedEx, or USPS express mail Do NOT use USPS priority or certified mail*	Application–Word (60K) Application–pdf (28K)	$20–First copy $3–Additional copies + $5 expedited processing fee (required) + $8 overnight or $16.25 express mail delivery cost**	Check Money order	10-15 business days
U.S. Postal Service Regular Mail	Application–Word (58K) Application–pdf (28K)	$20–First copy $3–Additional copies	Check Money order	6-8 weeks

* Please do not send expedited requests via U.S. Postal Service priority or certified mail because such mail can take up to three weeks to be delivered to our office through our routing system.

**The cost of UPS overnight to most U.S. locations is $8.00. Please contact UPS for the shipping cost if the certificates need to be mailed outside the continental U.S. The cost of express mail delivery to a post office box, military address, Hawaii, Alaska, U.S. territories or U.S. commonwealths is $16.25. These delivery methods offer security and tracking capabilities that are not available with regular mail.

Click here for information on viewing files.

External links to other sites are intended to be informational and do not have the endorsement of the Texas Department of State Health Services. These sites may also not be accessible to people with disabilities.

Last Updated June 8, 2007