Welcome to Michigan's Vital Records Services on the Internet

The State of Michigan Division for Vital Records has records of births, marriages, and deaths that occurred in Michigan and were filed with the state since 1867.   Michigan divorce records since 1897 are also available.  You can order a copy of a Michigan vital record from this web site, using your credit card, or print out an application form to send to our office.   If you wish to browse through our oldest death records, please click here. Please select from the list to order a record now, print off an application form, or to obtain detailed information on our services.

Please note, if you need a copy of a record of a vital event that occurred in another state, you should contact that state's vital records office.  Click here for a list of addresses and phone numbers.

Fees for Michigan Vital Records - Searches and Copies

The current fee for the search for and a certified copy of a Michigan vital record is $15.00.  This fee is not refundable.  The $15.00 fee will provide for a search of three years.  If no record is found, the applicant will receive, in place of the certified copy, an official statement that the record requested is not on file with the State of Michigan.

When more than one certified copy of a record is ordered, the first certified copy is $15.00 and each additional certified copy ordered at the same time is $5.00.

If the year of the event is not known and a search of more than three years is requested, there is a charge of $4.00 for each additional year over the initial three years requested to be searched.  Any additional years that are paid for but not searched are refunded.  Refund processing takes approximately three to four weeks.

The necessary search fee must accompany your order.  No search will be made or certified copy issued if the correct fee is not received with your signed and completed application. Payment must be made by money order or a check payable to the State of Michigan.  Do not send cash.

Persons who are 65 or older applying for a certified copy of their own birth record are charged a reduced fee of only $7.00 for the first copy and $5.00 for each additional copy ordered at the same time.

The charge for the first copy of an authenticated copy of a record, which contains the Great Seal of Michigan, is $18.00.  Authenticated records are also referred to as records containing an apostille.  Each additional authenticated copy of the same record ordered at the same time is $8.00.  Please note that the turn-around-time for an authenticated record is two to three weeks.  Authenticated records are required by some foreign countries for an adoption, work visa, marriage, or to establish residency.  An authenticated record is not required for foreign travel.

You can receive an expedited search for the record requested for an additional fee of $5.00. For information on turn-around times for an expedited search, click here.   Please note that the expedited search service is not offered for requests for authenticated records.

Eligibility Requirements

Michigan law, Section 333.2894(1), requires a written application and prepayment of the established fee before the vital records office can search for and provide a certified copy of a Michigan vital record.  To enable us to search for a requested record among the over 30 million vital records, filed with the State of Michigan, you must include sufficient information on the application about the record requested.

Certified Copies

Anyone is eligible to receive a certified copy of a Michigan death, marriage, divorce, or affidavit of parentage record if they make the request in writing and prepay the required search fee (MCL 333.2882(1)).  Anyone is also eligible to receive a birth record if that birth occurred at least 110 years ago (MCL 333.2882(1)(b)).

According to MCL 333.2882(1)(a)), only the following parties are eligible for a certified copy of a birth record that is not at least 110 years old:

• The person named on the record,
  
  
• A parent named on the record,
  
  
• A legal guardian of the person named on the record.  With your application you must include a copy of the court appointed legal guardianship papers.  Custody papers are not acceptable unless they specifically name you as the custodial parent.
  
  
• A legal representative of an eligible party.  Lawyers must include with the application a letter on their letterhead stating who they represent.  
  
  
• An heir if the person on the record is deceased.  A copy of a birth record can be released to an heir of a deceased person but you must state your relationship to the person, provide the decedent's married name at the time of death, and date and place of death.
  
  
• A court of competent jurisdiction that supplies a court order (a Michigan court or federal court or other jurisdiction whose laws are not in conflict with Michigan laws).
  
  
• Michigan law allows federal, state and local public and private agencies access to an administrative use copy of a Michigan vital record if an agency's functions require independent access to vital records facts.  For information about this option, click here.  

***The request must be written and the search fee must be prepaid.***

Administrative Copies

The department can prescribe conditions or terms under which federal, state, local or other public and private agencies can receive a copy of a vital record or data from vital records for administrative purposes (MCL 333.2883(2)).  Administrative use copies are not certified, but are copies marked with "For administrative use only, not for personal use".  The State vital records office will provide administrative copies of vital records to those agencies that need such copies in order to perform the basic functions of the agency.  An agency requesting an administrative copy must indicate that, in order to perform its required functions, it must have independent access to vital record information to establish or remove/deny eligibility for a benefit, program, or employment, or the record is needed to close an active file.  Such copies can only be used for the specific purpose for which they were requested.  Administrative Use requests are to be submitted along with the regular $15 search fee on our standard Administrative Use Only application form for birth records.   The regular application forms are to be used for death, marriage, and divorce records.  

Authenticated Copies

Authenticated copies are also referred to as records containing an apostille.  Authenticated records, which contain the Great Seal of Michigan, are required by some foreign countries for an adoption, marriage, establishment of citizenship, work visa, or court action in a foreign country.  An authenticated record is not required for foreign travel.  The same rules for eligibility apply to authenticated records as to certified copies of a record.  (Click here for rules).

Veteran's Benefits Copies

Upon making a written request, a veteran is entitled to one certified copy of a vital record at no charge for the purpose of securing a bonus, pension or compensation (MCL333.2891(6)).  This certified copy will be marked with "For veterans benefits only, not for personal use".  If the person entitled to the record is deceased or mentally incompetent, the copy may be furnished to an heir, guardian, or legal representative of the person.

Corrections

To request a correction or change to a birth or death record, an official application and the appropriate fee must be submitted.  In most cases, documentation to support the corrections or changes must also be submitted.  For further information, contact the changes unit at 517-335-8660.  Please note that Michigan marriage records are corrected in the county that issued the marriage license.  For information regarding a correction to a marriage record, contact the appropriate county.  

You can print off an application form to make a change to a vital record.  Please click here.  The required fee is listed on each application.

Adopted or Legal Name Change

If you are adopted and your adoption has been properly filed with the state vital records office, your original Michigan birth record should be sealed, based on an order from the court that approved the adoption.  Therefore, our office can only issue a copy of the amended birth record that indicates your adopted name and the name of your adoptive parents.  When applying for a copy of your birth record, please list your adopted name on the name-at-birth line and your adopted parents' names on the lines for the name of the mother and father.  

This office does not have copies of the adoption decree.  You need to contact the court in the county where the adoption was finalized to obtain that information.  If you do not know the county where the adoption was finalized, you can request a copy of your adoptive birth record and specifically request that we identify the court that ordered the adoptive record be created.

If you are trying to obtain a copy of your original birth record or to locate information about your biological parents or siblings, the court that finalized your adoption or the agency that handled your adoption may be able to assist you.

Please note that changing your name in court does not automatically change the name on your birth record.  That process can only be done through the changes unit here in the state vital records office.  You will need to submit a completed and signed application, a fee of $26.00 in the form of a personal check or money order made payable to the State of Michigan, and a copy of the court order for documentation.  The $26.00 fee includes one certified copy of the record with the changes made.  Additional copies are $5.00 each if ordered at the same time.  

Urgent Requests