Texas Public Death Records

By Ben Kingsley


The Texas Vital Statistics Office of the Department of State Health Services is the office in-charge of storing public records, including Texas Death Records. Death documents since 1903 can be found at the office. They are also stored at the county registrar's office where they were originally documented. Deaths that were documented before 1903 can be found only at the registrar's office.

Death records become part of public records 25 years after they are created. Once they become part of public records, they become available to the public upon request. Any person may request for the records but will need a notarized statement from someone who has authorization over them. Death records that are less than 25 years of age are only available to the immediate family of the deceased and those that specified by the court. Deaths may not have a record yet if they occurred 90 days prior to a record request.

There is a request form available at the Vital Statistics Office. The form can also be downloaded straight from their official website. If a person personally requests for the records at the office, he or she may get them on the same day, but in some cases, it may take 2 days or more. It costs $22 for each request and it is payable by money order, check or cash. A request may also be mailed for a fee of $20 but it will take longer to process, taking about 6 to 8 weeks. The retrieval process can be fast-forwarded but there is an additional fee. There is no refund policy even if no records are found.

Important fields that need to be filled-out on the request form include the name of the deceased, date and place of death, date they were born, etc. It is easier to locate the files if you can provide more details regarding the files. In cases where the year is not known, include a range of years to be searched.

Nowadays, public records can also be retrieved from private service providers. They have authorization from the court to provide them to the public. They are either for free or they render a certain amount of fee for their service. There are a number of service providers available on the Internet and it is just a matter of finding the right one that suits your search needs. However, be aware that there are fake service providers out there. Do a background check on them before deciding which one to use.

More people are performing a Death Search nowadays because of the ease of accessing them online. With just a computer, a connection to the Internet and knowledge of the full name of the dead person, a search can be performed wherever you feel comfortable. There is no need to wait for long periods of time because results are instantly displayed on your computer.




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