Kentucky Death Certificates 1911-1955
Under Kentucky law (KRS 213.131(5)), death certificates become public records after 50 years. For example, the death certificates from 1953 were released as public records in 2004. Death certificates as public records have been released for 1911 through 1953, and are available on microfilm in the Kentucky Room on the third floor of the Central Library.
Death certificates are of particular interest to genealogists and family historians. These records often contain the names of the parents of the deceased, the place of burial, and other information of genealogical interest.
Users are encouraged to visit the Kentucky Room to access these records. Users unable to visit may request these records through LPL’s mail or email research service. There is a $5.25 research fee for this service per certificate requested. See the Kentucky Room web page for more information.
These are uncertified public records. Users requiring certified copies of death certificates, or more recent certificates not yet released as public records, should contact the Vital Statistics office, Department of Public Health, Kentucky Cabinet for Health Services.
Office of Vital Statistics
275 East Main Street - 1E-A
Frankfort, KY 40621
Phone (502) 564-4212
Fax (877) 435-5584
http://chs.ky.gov/publichealth/vital.htm
Finding Kentucky death certificates
Kentucky death certificates are issued for individuals who pass away in Kentucky. If you are unable to locate an individual in one of the available indexes, try searching creatively using variant name spellings. Errors have been found in indexes. Also try to verify that the individual did in fact pass away in Kentucky.
Use an index to determine the year of death and the certificate number. Again, the public records at LPL cover 1911 through 1953. A microfiche index of the death certificates is available in the Kentucky Room. There are online indexes also available free of charge.
- RootsWeb Kentucky Death Records Index, 1911-2000 - provides useful search options, like limits by year or searching by Soundex name variants (MANY POP-UPS)
- Kentucky Vital Records Index - hosted by the University of Kentucky