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(This page's most recent update is May 2026)
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If you are looking for death certificates, you need to know the timing of each state’s requirements. Each state in the U.S. started requiring death registrations in different years. Usually, some types of records were created prior to the official state laws, either at the county, city, or town levels. But state records weren’t required until a law was passed. Furthermore, even though registrations and certificates were mandated, general compliance was not achieved by all entities for just a few years or even a few decades in some instances.
The Quicksheet lists the state and when registration was required. Also listed is a link to further information about each state’s death records, especially where you might find them prior to state registration. The FamilySearch Wiki has a page for each state with this information. I have included a state-level information site for some of the states. If you want to see the Wiki entry, just modify the state name in the URL for FamilySearch.
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To obtain the three-page Quicksheet pdf for easy reference, you can download it by clicking on the Download button
For all the previously published Quick Reference Guides, click on QuickSheets.
If you use Quicksheets often, the Quicksheet Vault puts 390+ of them in one organized place — clean, printable, and easy to reuse whenever you need them. Whether you keep digital references handy or build your own genealogy binder, the Vault makes research simpler. Learn more about the Quicksheet Vault HERE