How to Get a Hawaii Death Certificate (2026)

You get a Hawaii death certificate from the State Department of Health, Office of Health Status Monitoring. A certified copy costs $12.50 for the first copy, which is a $10 record fee plus a $2.50 administrative fee charged per order, and $4 for each additional copy of the same record ordered at the same time. Only applicants with a direct and tangible interest, such as family or an estate representative, may order one.

How Do You Get a Death Certificate in Hawaii?

You get a Hawaii death certificate from the State Department of Health, Office of Health Status Monitoring, Issuance/Vital Statistics Section. Hawaii is a centralized state, so all death records are issued by the state office rather than by individual counties.

There are three ways to request a certified copy.

Order Online

The fastest method is the official state portal at vitrec.ehawaii.gov. You complete the order form, upload a copy of your government-issued photo ID and documents proving your eligibility, and pay by credit or debit card. This is the method the Department of Health recommends.

Order by Mail

You can mail a completed Request for Certified Copy of Death Record form to the State Department of Health, P.O. Box 3378, Honolulu, HI 96801. Include a copy of your photo ID, proof of eligibility, and payment by cashier's check, certified check, or money order.

Request in Person

In-person service is available at 1250 Punchbowl Street, Room 103, in Honolulu, Monday through Friday from 7:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The state portal states that appointments are required, with walk-in service available between appointments as time permits. Bring your completed form, photo ID, eligibility documents, and payment.

Do not plan on in-person service at a neighbor-island District Health Office. The Department of Health directs neighbor-island residents to contact their local office for assistance only, and the offices themselves are explicit about the limits: the Kauai District Health Office states that death certificates are issued only by the Office of Health Status Monitoring on Oahu and that it cannot process in-person request forms; the Department of Health notes that no pick-up service is available on Maui, Lanai, or Molokai; and the Hawaii Island office offers pick-up only, by appointment, after an order has already been placed and paid for online. Online and mail ordering are available statewide.

Who Is Eligible to Request a Hawaii Death Certificate?

Only an applicant with a direct and tangible interest in the record may obtain a certified copy of a Hawaii death certificate. Hawaii restricts access to protect the privacy of the deceased and surviving family.

People who generally qualify include:

• The spouse, a parent, or a descendant (child or grandchild) of the deceased
• A relative who shares a common ancestor, such as a sibling, grandparent, aunt, uncle, or cousin
• A legal guardian or the personal representative of the estate
• A person authorized by a court order
• A person needing the record to settle a credit insurance claim or determine property rights

You must provide documentation showing your relationship or interest, and the office may deny a request if eligibility is not established.

Hawaii Death Certificate Cost and Processing Time

A certified Hawaii death certificate costs $12.50 for the first copy. That is the $10 first-copy fee set by HRS 338-14.5 plus a $2.50 administrative fee charged on the order. Each additional copy of the same record ordered at the same time is $4. The $2.50 fee covers an order of up to five certificates, and another $2.50 applies for each additional set of five, so six to ten copies carry a $5.00 fee.

The state ordering portal puts the current average processing time for a mailed certificate at about 6 to 8 weeks. The Department of Health does not publish a faster guaranteed turnaround for death certificates, so treat 6 to 8 weeks as the planning figure and order early if an estate or insurance deadline is coming. A request that arrives without acceptable ID, without proof of eligibility, or with the wrong payment will not be filled at all, which adds further delay. In-person requests may still require pickup or mailing rather than same-day issuance.

Certified vs Informational Copy in Hawaii

Hawaii primarily issues certified copies of death certificates. A certified copy is the official document bearing the state seal that you use for estate settlement, insurance claims, property transfers, and closing financial accounts.

Hawaii does not offer an "informational" (non-certified) death certificate the way some mainland states do. What it offers instead is a letter of verification under HRS 338-14.3. A letter of verification confirms that a death certificate is on file with the Department of Health and verifies facts that you supply in the request, such as a name and a date of death. It will not disclose information from the certificate that you did not already provide.

The fee is $5 per letter, and the service is available by mail or in person only. You use the same request form and must meet the same direct and tangible interest eligibility rules that apply to a certified copy, and an in-person request may still need to be picked up or mailed later rather than handed over on the spot. A letter of verification is not a substitute for a certified copy when you are settling an estate or filing an insurance claim, but it works when you only need confirmation that a death was registered in Hawaii. For older records sought for family history, the Department of Health handles those through its separate genealogy request process.

How to Get Additional or Replacement Copies

To get additional or replacement copies, you submit a new request to the State Department of Health using the same online, mail, or in-person methods. There is no special "replacement" process; each request is treated as a fresh order.

Ordering several copies at once is the most economical approach, since each additional copy of the same record is only $4 when ordered together. If you later discover you need more copies, you must reapply, prove your eligibility again, and pay the $12.50 first-copy charge ($10 record fee plus the $2.50 administrative fee) plus $4 for each additional copy on that new order.

Disclaimer: This page provides general information, not legal advice. Fees, eligibility rules, and processing times can change. Always verify current requirements with the Hawaii State Department of Health before submitting a request.

Sources

This page draws on the Hawaii State Department of Health, Office of Health Status Monitoring, the neighbor-island District Health Offices, the official state vital records ordering portal, and the Hawaii Revised Statutes.

Related: Hawaii Death Records and Death Records by State.