Get a San Francisco death certificate more than 3 years ago

You can apply to get a record of a death certificate for someone who died in San Francisco more than 3 years ago and after 1906.

You can apply to get a Certified Authorized record of a death certificate if you are the deceased person’s:

• Child
• Spouse, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling or state-registered domestic partner 
• Surviving next of kin

You can also apply for a certified record of a death certificate if you: 

• Are an agent or employee of a funeral house
• Have authorization from a certified court order. In this case, you will be asked to provide the court order.
• Have power of attorney and can show a certified copy of your Power of Attorney document
• Are the executor of the person’s estate, with estate documents to prove it
• Work for another government agency and can show your work ID

On April 1, 2025, you will be able to pay for birth, death, and confidential marriage certificates directly through the Office of the County Clerk. There is a 2% service fee for all credit and debit card transactions. There is no fee for payments made using a checking account. You still MUST appear in person to present valid, non-expired picture ID to receive the record. The record WILL NOT be mailed to you. We will call you when your record is ready for pickup.

VitalChek is a third-party provider for ordering vital records online.

Order online

This process can take up to 6 weeks.

You can call VitalChek at (800) 708-6733 to check on an order or if you have questions.

Go to the Office of the County Clerk

You can apply to get a death certificate in person at the Office of the County Clerk. The death certificate must be for someone:

• who died in San Francisco more than 3 years ago
• who died on or after 1906

The person applying must bring an unexpired government-issued photo ID.

You can pay by cash or credit card. You can also pay with a personal check, money order, or cashier's check, from a US bank and in US dollars.

Fill out the form and sworn statement

Download the PDF and fill out your details.

Get the application notarized

Take your form to a notary public and have it notarized. 

You don’t need to have your application notarized for an Informational Copy. Informational copies are certified, but have “Informational: Not a valid document to establish identity” printed on them.

Mail your application

You must include:

• your filled out application
• notarized sworn statement
• payment 

You can pay by personal check, money order, or bank check. Make it payable to “SF County Clerk”. 

If you are using a personal check, it must:

• have the account holders name printed on it
• be from a bank in the USA
• payable to "SF County Clerk"

You should get your death certificate in 4 to 6 weeks.