1. Name of deceased   2. Date of death   3. Age at death   4. Date of birth   5. Place of death   6. Place of birth   7. Marital status   8. Social Security number   9. Residence   10. Father's name   11. Mother's name   12. Informant   13. Cause of death   14. Mortuary   15. Date of burial   16. Place of burial

Death Certificate from Kansas City, Missouri

Death Certificates

If the person you are researching died when and where records were required, always obtain a copy of the death certificate.

Ask for a certified copy or photocopy of a death record, not a transcription! The clerk may make a mistake when copying the contents by hand.

Be prepared to provide some vital record offices with documentary proof of your relationship to the person whose death certificate you're requesting.

If the informant listed on a death certificate is living, contact them for details not given on the document. Sometimes the informant didn't know much about the deceased. When that was the case, you'll find lots of blank space where information should be.

Never accept the facts recorded on a death certificate as correct until they've been corroborated by other documents.

Use mortuary records, sexton's registers, religious burial registers, obituary notices and Social Security applications to corroborate the information on death certificates.

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