Vital records offer a convenient way for one to prove their own identity. Many government agencies in fact request for vital records such as birth, death, marriage and divorce records in their everyday transactions with the public. For those interested to obtain a copy of Florida death notices, they can do so as it is easy to get hold of one from the State. Death records are important as it can serve as a supporting document to claim death benefits, spousal support and even to fix property issues. Some death records can also be useful in determining the cause of death and if it can affect the future generations of a specific family.
For those who are interested to obtain a copy of death records, they can visit the Bureau of Vital Statistics Office during business hours. The Office houses records that date back to 1917. Some records that date back to 1877 are also available; however, these records are only limited due to the fact that state-wide registrations were only imposed in the early 1900’s. Florida death records are available to the public and can be accessed by anyone; however, the cause of death is restricted for those who are not eligible under the law. The confidentiality is upheld for 50 years from the time of death of the person and will only become public records after the time limit expires. The cause of death is only accessible by the spouse, their children of legal age, parents, siblings and those authorized by the court.
To request for a death certificate, one should first determine if he or she is eligible to purchase the certificate. Certificates without cause of death are accessible by anyone. Individuals who are related to the decedent, persons who have a will, though can only access a certificate with the cause of death and any person that maybe authorized to act in behalf of the people mentioned. Once one determines their eligibility, they can request the Office for the death certificate. To make a request, send in a written request including the deceased person’s name, sex and date of birth, county and social security number if available. The person making the request should also include his or her contact information as well as relationship the deceased person. Include the mailing address, contact number as well as copy of a valid id with photo. One should send copies instead of original documents.
Each certificate costs $5 and the person requesting the certificate can request for additional copies with each copy costing $4. For those who are not sure of the exact date of death, they can add a year or two to the search for $2 per year. One can add as many years as they want and the maximum fee is $50 regardless of how many the years one may have requested for research. One should keep in mind that fees are not refundable and only fees for additional copies are returned by the Office. If the Office finds no records, they will issue a Certificate of No Public Records and will send it to the person requesting the information. Rush and express delivery are available with each costing $10 on top of the service fee. For express delivery, the Office requires the person requesting to include pre-paid express delivery envelope. Payments can be made via money orders or checks. For those in-person requests, credit cards and cash payments are allowed.
For those who want to receive a copy of the death record faster, many commercial vendors or sites offer public record searches for free or for a minimal fee.
For more tips and recommendations on how to go about conducting Florida Death Records searches and other associated information, visit Public Death Records Online.