Get a death certificate for someone who died in the last 3 years

Death certificates are available in-person, and by mail.

Cost

Time

30 minutes on average

What to do

For someone who died more than 3 years ago in San Francisco, go to the County Clerk

Go to the Department of Public Health, Office of Vital Records

Apply to get a death certificate in person. The death certificate must be for someone:

The person applying must bring an unexpired government-issued photo ID. We will accept IDs from foreign governments.

You can pay by Visa, MasterCard, or cash. You can also pay by money order, in US dollars.

We charge for every search, so you will pay the fee even if we can not find the record.

To save time, you can also bring your completed application.

Department of Public Health

Office of Vital Records
101 Grove Street, Room 105
San Francisco, CA 94102

Mon to Fri, 8:00 am to 4:00 pm

Closed on public holidays.

Mail

1. Fill out the form

Download the application. Fill out the form.

2. Get the statement notarized

Take your form to a notary public and have it notarized.

You don’t need to have your application notarized for an Informational Copy. But your certificate will have “Informational: Not a valid document to establish identity” printed on the document.

3. Mail the application

You must include:

San Francisco Department of Public Health
Office of Vital Records
101 Grove Street, Room 105
San Francisco, CA 94102

You should get the death certificate in 5 to 10 business days.

4. Expedited service

If you need your certificate quickly, you can add a $30 fee to speed up processing of your application.

Fee does not include express delivery. You can include an express envelope (like UPS or FedEx) instead of a self addressed stamped envelope.

Who can get a death certificate

You can apply for a Certified Authorized Copy of a death certificate for:

Anyone can request an informational copy of a death certificate.

Special cases

Get a death certificate for someone else

Get a death certificate for someone else

You can also apply for a Certified Authorized Copy of a death certificate if you:

Correcting a death certificate

Correcting a death certificate

Correcting or ammending a death certificate happens at the state level. Go to the California Department of Public Health page for more information.