For Tennessee death certificates, it is the Office of Vital Records of the Tennessee Department of Health that registers and keeps file of all records pertaining to deaths which took place within the state. The office issues certified copies of these records to the immediate family members of the deceased as well as his or her legal representatives.

In all cases of application for death records, the Vital Records Office requires that the person making the request submit with his or her application a photocopy of a signed state-issued photo ID for identification.

Death records that are available are those filed beyond the past 50 years. Each certificate costs $7, and the information regarding the cause of death is available only to family members who specifically request for this information when they apply for a copy.

"Looking for Public Death Records in Tennessee?"

"Why not save some time by searching billions of public records? Make things a lot faster by starting your preliminary search at the top or bottom of this page to see if there's a record available for your query."

If you are looking for older records, you can find them at the Tennessee State Library and Archives. If you know what year the death was recorded, then you can request for a search by mail. Don't forget to specify the name of the deceased, the year, and the county where the death occurred when making the request.

As with searches in general, the fees that you pay include the search of the records on the archives of the years before and after the year that you provide. If the record is found, it will be sent to your accordingly. Otherwise, you will get a letter notifying you that the record could not be found in lieu of the document. The search fee is not refundable.

For mail and walk-in requests, you can write to or visit the office located at:

Tennessee Vital Records
Central Services Building
1st Floor
421 5th Avenue North
Nashville, Tennessee  37243
Phone (615) 741-1763

Personal visits should be made on weekdays between 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Your applications can be processed while you wait but those. If you made your application before 10:30 AM then the request will be processed by 3:00 PM on that day, otherwise your copy will be issued on 3:00 PM the next day.

Of course, in both cases, don't forget to present proper identification as well as sufficient information about yourself as well as the person whose name is on the death record.

"Looking for Public Death Records in Tennessee?"

"Why not save some time by searching billions of public records? Make things a lot faster by starting your preliminary search at the top or bottom of this page to see if there's a record available for your query."