Certified birth, marriage & death certificates — ordered right the first time
Certified copies come from one specific government office — and applications die from wrong offices, missing notarizations, and stale fees. VitalCopies prepares yours for the exact office that holds the record and mails it with tracking. $34 flat, government fee itemized.
How it works
Find the office that holds your record
State, county, or a separate city system — the free lookup tells you which, what it charges, and the ID rules that sink applications.
We prepare the application correctly
Right form, right fee amount, right ID proofs, notarization flagged where required — reviewed before anything mails.
Tracked to the office and back
Your packet ships with tracking both directions. If the office rejects our paperwork, the service fee comes back in full.
One honest price
We prepare the application for the exact office that holds your record, include the required ID proofs and the government fee, and mail it with tracking both ways — refunded if the office rejects our paperwork.
Straight answers
What does this cost?
$34 flat for our service, plus the government office's own fee — shown as its own line before you pay, never marked up. The office's fee goes to the office.
Can I order directly from the government instead?
Yes, always — every state office takes direct orders, and our free lookup links you straight to the right one with its fee. What we sell is getting the application right the first time: correct office, correct ID proofs, notarization where required, tracked mail both ways.
Why do mail orders get rejected?
Wrong office (state vs. county vs. NYC-style city systems), missing notarized sworn statements (California and North Carolina mail orders), ineligible requesters on restricted records, and stale fees. Those four cover most of the heartbreak — and they're exactly what we check.
What happens if the office rejects the application anyway?
Our fee comes back in full. Government fees are refunded when the office refunds them (most return payment with a rejection; policies vary and we tell you before ordering).
Just researching for now?
Get the state-by-state ordering checklist — every office, fee, and ID requirement for the records families actually need.