California State Vital Records Office Information

California Dept of Health Services M.S. 5103 P.O. Box 997410 Sacramento, CA 95899 (916) 445-1719 or (916) 445-2684 Fax: (800) 858-5553

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Due to budget cuts, on November 26, 2003, the vitals records office has closed their Sacramento public counter service for certified copies of birth and death records. All requests must be submitted by mail. Click here for more details

Check or money order should be made payable to Office of Vital Records. Personal checks are accepted. Due to shortage of staff, the processing time for copies of vital records is 15-20 weeks. The fee covers a 10-year period search (if necessary) for the record requested.

If you would like to fax your request there is an additional fee of $7.00. Please include the following additional information when faxing your request:

• MC, Visa, Am Express or Discover card number and expiration date
• Daytime telephone number
• Return address where you would like the certificate mailed.
• Search California Databases online for birth, marriage, census, death, immigration, naturalization, military records and more at Ancestry
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• Search the Social Security Death Index online for FREE

• Order birth and death records online quickly and easily via VitalChek

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  Record		Cost	Dates	Ordering
  Birth		$14.00	since July 1905	Order Online	Mail Order
  	For quicker processing order from the vital records office in the County in which the birth occured.
  Death		$12.00	since July 1905	Order Online	Mail Order
  	For quicker processing order from the vital records office in the County in which the death occured. Click here to search the Social Security Death Index
  Marriage		$13.00	since July 1905 except for 1987 to 1995	Order Online	Mail Order
  	The state does not have indexes for the years 1987-1995 so you must request these from the county.
  Divorce		$13.00	1962 - 1984		Mail Order
  	Fee is for search and identification of county where certified copy can be obtained. Certified copies are not available from State Health Department, but must be obtained from the Clerk of Superior Court in county where divorce was granted.
  Amending a certificate		Click here for information
  Adoption		Click here for information
  Naturalization		Search California Naturalization Records Online
  Census			1790 through 1930	Search U.S. Federal Census Records Online

  

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Index to California County Vital Records Offices

You may obtain certified copies of Vital Records directly from the County Recorder's Office, or Local Health Department for recent Births and Deaths if you know the county of occurence. Most of the county offices can provide a faster processing time than the State office (often within one week). Also, many of the county offices will accept requests (using a credit card) by phone, fax, or on-line. Certified copies of divorce decrees and confidential marriage records must be obtained from the county where divorce was granted or the marriage was licensed.

Follow this link to Rootsweb to determine what county a city or town is in.

Alameda . Alpine . Amador . Butte . Calaveras . Colusa . Contra Costa . Del Norte . El Dorado . Fresno . Glenn . Humboldt . Imperial . Inyo . Kern . Kings . Lake . Lassen . Los Angeles . Madera . Marin . Mariposa . Mendocino . Merced . Modoc . Mono . Monterey . Napa . Nevada . Orange . Placer . Plumas . Riverside . Sacramento . San Benito . San Bernardino . San Diego . San Francisco . San Joaquin . San Luis Obispo . San Mateo . Santa Barbara . Santa Clara . Santa Cruz . Shasta . Sierra . Siskiyou . Solano . Sonoma . Stanislaus . Sutter . Tehama . Trinity . Tulare . Tuolumne . Ventura . Yolo . Yuba .

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