Death certificates are NOT available from the Surrogate’s Court. 

Death Certificates are normally issued in the township/municipality/city where the person died.

Funeral homes may get the death certificate issued in the township/city where their funeral home is located, if the decedent was also a resident of that township/municipality.

The municipal registrar would then forward the death certificate to the municipality where the death occurred.

The death certificate is also filed with the state office of vital statistics in the state where the death occurred.

How To Obtain a Certified Copy of a Death Certificate

Certified copies of Death certificates are available from Local Registrars for the municipality where the death occurred.

The State Bureau of Vital Statistics and Registration maintains death certificates from 1878 to the present.

You can obtain a certified copy of a death certificate online, by written request, or in person.

Details of these services can be reviewed at http://www.state.nj.us/health/vital/

For copies of vital records from 1848 to 1877, please contact:

New Jersey Department of State

Division of Archives and Records Management

PO Box 307

Trenton, NJ 08625-0307

Or call 609-292-4087

Who Can Obtain Certified Copies of Death Certificates

Pursuant to Executive Order No. 18 signed by Governor James E. McGreevey on April 24, 2002, a State or local Registrar may issue a certified copy of a vital record only to persons who establish themselves as the subject of the vital record, the subject’s parent, legal guardian or legal representative, spouse/civil union partner, child, grandchild or sibling, if of legal age, a State or Federal agency for official purposes, pursuant to court order or under other emergent circumstances as determined by the Commissioner. To review the entire executive Order go to www.state.nj.us/infobank/circular/eom18.shtml

LAST REVIEWED May 19, 2020. (please be sure to check the state website for more recent modifications)

CONTACT INFORMATION

NJ OFFICE OF VITAL STATISTICS AND REGISTRY:
Telephone:
1-609-528-9316
1-866-649-8726 toll-free nationwide

ONLINE ORDERS FOR COPIES OF VITAL RECORDS:
For more information about ordering online:
Telephone: 1-888-600-9176 or 1-609-858-9896

VITAL RECORDS IN NEW JERSEY

http://www.state.nj.us/health/vital/

PENNSYLVANIA DIVISION OF VITAL RECORDS IN DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

Telephone:

1-724-656-3100

1-844-228-3516 toll free

Online Orders:

 Death Certificates (pa.gov)