Colorado Death Records: Are They Public + How to Get Them

Colorado is a closed-record state for death certificates. Under C.R.S. 25-2-117, vital statistics records are confidential, and only an applicant with a direct and tangible interest, such as immediate family, the legal representative, or an insurer, may buy a certified copy. Colorado sets no age at which a death certificate simply becomes public, so the same eligibility test applies to a 1925 death and a 2026 death.

Are Death Records Public in Colorado?

No. Colorado is a closed-record state, so death certificates are not public for the general public to buy on demand. Vital records are confidential under Colorado Revised Statutes 25-2-117, and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) releases certified copies only to people who qualify.

There is no age at which that changes. C.R.S. 25-2-117 conditions every certified copy on the applicant having a direct and tangible interest, and the Colorado Board of Health rules that carry it out (5 CCR 1006-1) contain no provision opening older records to the general public. A century-old Colorado death certificate is requested on the same terms as a recent one.

That makes Colorado more restrictive than the many states that open death records to anyone after a fixed number of years. What Colorado offers instead is a qualifying-purpose route: the rules count genealogical research as one way an applicant can show the required interest.

For how other states compare, see our Death Records by State guide.

Who Can Request a Colorado Death Record?

Only a person with a direct and tangible interest in the record may request a certified Colorado death certificate. CDPHE and Colorado county vital records offices apply this standard under C.R.S. 25-2-117 and the Colorado Board of Health rules (5 CCR 1006-1).

People who typically qualify include:

• The deceased person's current or surviving spouse
• A parent named on the certificate
• An adult child of the deceased
• A sibling or half-sibling who can document a shared parent
• The legal representative or attorney acting for an eligible party
• The funeral establishment listed on the certificate
• A person or entity with a documented financial interest, such as an insurer or pension administrator
• A researcher who needs the certificate for genealogical purposes

Every requester must submit a valid government-issued photo ID. If your relationship is not obvious from the record, you will also need documentation that proves it, such as a birth or marriage certificate, a certified court order, or an insurance policy on company letterhead.

Genealogical researchers are not a separate category with their own age cutoff. Under 5 CCR 1006-1, someone who needs a certificate "for genealogical purposes" is one of the people who can qualify as having a direct and tangible interest, so a family-history request is judged like any other application and the State Registrar decides whether the showing is enough. Expect to document the line of descent you are researching.

How to Get a Colorado Death Certificate

You can order a Colorado death certificate from CDPHE Vital Records or from a participating county vital records office. The state and counties share the same statewide eligibility rules, so you can usually order any Colorado death record from any participating office.

There are three common ways to order:

• Online, through either of the two CDPHE-authorized vendors, VitalChek or GoCertificates (birth and death requests only), with documents uploaded electronically
• By mail, by sending the application, copies of your ID, and the fee to the vital records office
• In person, at the CDPHE Vital Records office in Denver, which is by appointment only with no walk-in service, or at a county vital records office

As of 2026, the fee through CDPHE is $25 for the first certified copy and $20 for each additional copy ordered at the same time. County offices follow the same state fee schedule.

Processing time depends on the method and on CDPHE's current backlog. The department posts the date of the mail and online orders it is working on right now, so check that posted date before you count on a timeline, and add shipping. A county vital records counter is usually much faster. Fees are non-refundable even when a search finds no matching record, so confirm the details before you submit.

Before you order, gather the basic facts the office needs to find the record. That usually means the full legal name of the deceased, the date of death or an approximate range, and the Colorado county or city where the death occurred. The more complete your information, the less likely the office is to return your request for clarification.

Decide how many certified copies you actually need before you submit. Banks, insurers, the probate court, and the Social Security Administration may each ask for an original certified copy, so families often order several at once to take advantage of the lower additional-copy fee. Ordering extra copies in the same request is cheaper than placing a second order later.

Is the Cause of Death Public in Colorado?

The cause of death is recorded on the certified Colorado death certificate, and it is released to eligible requesters along with the rest of the record. It is not posted to a public database that anyone can browse.

Because the certificate itself is confidential, the cause of death carries the same protection. Only people with a direct and tangible interest can obtain the full certificate, including the medical cause-of-death information.

When a death is sudden, violent, or unexplained, a county coroner may investigate and complete an autopsy. The coroner's findings feed the cause-of-death entry on the certificate, but the coroner's own report is a separate record with its own access rules and is not automatically released alongside the vital record.

For a broader look at how this works, see Are Cause of Death Records Public? and Are Autopsies Public Records?, since autopsy and coroner reports follow their own access rules separate from the vital record.

How Far Back Do Colorado Death Records Go?

Deaths in Colorado were not officially registered with the state until about 1908, so there is no guarantee that a state record exists for an earlier death. CDPHE and county offices issue certificates for deaths from 1908 forward. The Colorado State Archives holds some earlier local death registers, including Denver County records from 1905 to 1909 and Kit Carson County records from 1893 to 1907, which are searchable through its Archives Search database; death certificates issued after 1908 are not held by the Archives.

Age alone does not unlock a certificate. However old the death, the applicant still has to meet the direct and tangible interest standard, so you generally cannot research a Colorado death through a public state index. Eligible family members and representatives must order certified copies directly from CDPHE or a county office.

For a national lens, note that there is no single federal death-records database open to the public. The CDC's National Center for Health Statistics compiles mortality data from state-issued certificates, but death certificates remain state records. The Social Security Administration maintains a Death Master File, yet its public version excludes deaths within the most recent three calendar years under the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013. Birth records follow similar state-by-state rules, covered in Are Birth Certificates Public Records?.

Colorado Death Records: Quick Facts

Disclaimer: This page provides general legal information about public access to Colorado death records, not legal advice. Eligibility rules, fees, and processing times can change. Always confirm current requirements with CDPHE Vital Records or the relevant county office before you submit a request.

Sources

This guide is based on official Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment guidance, the Colorado Revised Statutes, and federal CDC and SSA sources listed below.