Death Certificate Request Form: Fill & Download for Free

I have two examples, one on each side of the Atlantic, of dealing with the bureaucracy surrounding a death.My British husband died in August of 1991. Once I had the OK from the coroner, I had to register his death at the local registrar’s office. A friend drove me there. It took about 10 minutes to state his name, birth date, birth place, his occupation, his father’s name and his father’s occupation and check the spelling. (I got the birthplace wrong, sadly, but I was close.) A few more minutes elapsed while this was typed up and I was given several copies of the death certificate. He died intestate. A glance at his death certificate was all the bank needed to unfreeze our joint account into my name (I had to sign a paper stating I’d reimburse the bank if the money transferred did not all belong to me by right of the administration of his estate). The house we owned had to be valued, but then was immediately transferred into my name, as was our remaining mortgage. The tax office refunded to me a small amount of tax he’d overpaid before he died, without my requesting it. The bureaucracy was all over and done with in a matter of a couple of months.My American mother died in 2003. The undertaker’s firm helped me with the immediate paperwork regarding her death. I supplied similar information to that I’d supplied for my husband: name, maiden name, birth date, birth place, occupation, etc. Some days later I received several copies of her death certificates (there were two different forms of death certificate), with a long list of instructions about informing the social security office, various other offices, etc. These instructions were full of acronyms and the titles of offices and officers I had no knowledge of as I hadn’t lived in the US for over 35 years. I tried to inform the social security office, which involved a large number of phone calls and endless waiting. I never seemed to have the information or the form that they needed, so I’d be sent back to get it (from where???). For some years I had been a joint account holder on my mother’s bank account, so I could pay bills on her behalf. The bank needed two copies of the death certificate, a notarized statement from me, sight of my mother’s will. It took about a month and a half to transfer the money solely into my name, during which time the joint account was blocked and I had to pay expenses out of my British bank account (which was another nightmare in itself).I never did manage to satisfy the social security office, even though all I wanted to do was state that they no longer needed to pay her social security.She was no longer filling in 1040s (I believe because all she lived on was her social security, she didn’t have to), but I couldn’t find anyone who would verify to me that there was no further need to file any returns.Trying to sell her house was another nightmare of back-and-forth shuffling with paperwork, etc., etc.It was a year and a bit before I could be certain that it was all taken care of.

When my wife died, I was the executor of her estate. On the advice of an attorney, I closed all of my wife’s asset accounts (checking, savings, various investment accounts), as well as any joint asset accounts. The monies in our joint accounts were transferred to new accounts solely in my name, and the monies in her individual accounts were transferred into accounts in the name of her estate.I contacted our joint creditors, and had her name removed from those accounts, and I contacted creditors of hers alone to close those accounts, and settle them with funds from the estate. With so much to do, I didn’t even bother with accounts that were at zero that I didn’t know of any recurring charges that would go to them. Those included “store” accounts that may have been used to make relatively big purchases that had been paid-off years ago, but there was also one Visa card that I didn’t bother with.About six months after she had passed, I got a bill for an annual fee for that Visa card. It never occurred to me that this might happen. Past statements never showed an annual fee. But apparently she had previously qualified to have the annual fee waived due to other accounts and/or activity with that bank.I called them up to inform them of the issue, and noted that they already had a copy of her death certificate on-file from when I closed another account with them. They were very happy to waive the charge, to bring the amount back to zero because she had never not qualified for a waiver before, but before they closed the account, they would need a “certified copy” of the death certificate.A copy of the death certificate is easy. Just run it through any copy machine. Costs about a dime, and whatever time it takes to get to, and use a copy machine, and there were copy machines both at my job, and at the grocery store. But a certified copy comes from the county clerk, costs real money, requires forms, and takes time to get. Six months earlier, I had requested all that I needed at one time, and I didn’t want to spend the money, or take the time to get another copy for a bank that already had one on-file.I told them that, and they said that they didn’t have one on-file, and if I didn’t provide them with one, my wife’s account could not be closed, and (…wait for it…) that would adversely affect her credit score, and her ability to get credit in the future. Seriously. They threatened to ruin a dead woman’s credit score!I laughed at the CSR, and asked to speak to her supervisor. And the supervisor told me the same thing!So I told the supervisor that I had already spent more time than I had to on this issue, and they were more than welcome to continue to try to get money from a dead woman for as long as they wanted to, and that they should have fun doing so, and maybe next time, if I feel like spending any amount of time dealing with a bill from them, I might just call a TV station that might enjoy such an absurd story.I never got another bill from them. And even if I had, what difference would it have made? They had no claim against the estate for debt transactions that occurred after her death. And they had no claim against me, or any other heir because they simply weren’t our debts.So let them know that they can continue to bill a dead person, but they’re never going to be able to collect. And the sooner they realize that, the less crap they’ll have to clean-up in their accounting system.Edit: I’m turning off comments because too many people are replying to the original question, instead of commenting on this answer.

My experience is all in Texas, but rules are similar in most states.The DC is restricted for a period of years. Here, it is 25 years. It will vary.During that blackout period, they are usually restricted to immediate family members only. Here, “immediate family members” includes siblings.I Checked the Nevada Death Certificate website and it is much the same.Birth and Death CertificatesHere is the link to the actual request by mail:http://dpbh.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/dpbhnvgov/content/Programs/BirthDeath/Docs/Application%20-%20Death%20Certificate%20-%2003-06-19_FILLABLE.pdfThey will require that you prove your relationship, and also provide ID along with the request formProof of relationship can be made by a copy of YOUR birth certificate, because it will have your parents names. Her death certificate will have her parents names. If at least one of the parents matches, you are proved as a sibling, and entitled to order a copy of the certificate.You can provide ID by also sending them a copy of your drivers license.There may be other forms of acceptable ID, but I did not dig through the website deeply enough to find it.But that is where the answer to the cause of death, and place of burial or cremation will be found.Be aware also that the process of filing a DC is not instant. It may take some time, particularly if the cause of death is not known, pending investigation.In some areas, it may not be filed until a ruling has been made. In other areas, it will be recorded as results pending, and then amended when all the tests are in.I have known that process to take up to 5 months.So if they say they do not have that record, don’t be discouraged (depending on time) it may still be in process.Good luck!