State Contact Information for Death Certificates
An official certificate of every birth, death, marriage and divorce should be on file where they occurred. Do not look to the Federal Government for these records. This information is permanently filed in state vital statistics offices or in a city, county or other local office.

To locate state vital records such as birth, death, marriage and divorce records, go to cdc.gov/nchs/howto/w2w/w2welcom.htm. This will bring you to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). Here you can click on each state and receive the contact information in that state for vital records.

However, be aware that public access to vital records, such as birth and death records, may be harder to obtain because of the Terrorism Prevention Act in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Some states are clamping down on who they're allowing information to and what process a person must go through to get it.

For example, according to the Society of Professional Journalists, South Dakota has sealed off public access to certified birth and death certificates, marriage licenses and divorce records. To obtain a copy of these records, the applicant must have a "direct and tangible interest" or a "significant legal relationship" with the person whose record is being sought. However, informational copies of any vital record are available to requesters who complete an application and provide identification. West Virginia states boldly that it "is not an 'open record' state." Other states, like New Jersey, allow public access to informational copies of vital records, but to obtain a certified copy requires proof from the subject of the record.