Office of Vital Records
- Certificates and Records Home
- About OVR
- Register a record
- OVR contacts
- County Office Contact Information
- Vital Records Rulemaking
Birth Records
- Birth certificates
- Noncertified birth records
- Change a birth record
- Birth records and adoption
- Birth records and paternity
- Stillbirth
Death Records
For Professionals
- Medical certifiers
- Funeral directors
- Hospital birth registrars
- County vital records offices
- Child support workers
- Training for Vital Records Professionals
Related Information
Documents for Death Record Changes
Vital records offices must make sure that changes to death records match other documents relating to the person who died.
By law, our office requires one document to add missing information or two to change existing information on a death record. You may need to supply more documents depending on what you want to amend and what your document shows. Find more information on this topic in Death Record Amendment Application and Instructions (PDF).
Each document must meet all of the requirements below. Each document must:
- Show the item you want to add or change exactly as you want it to appear on the death certificate
- Show at least two items that are on the death certificate and that you are not asking to have changed
- Show the date the document was created and the name of the entity that created the document
- Be legible - clear enough to read, and in English or translated into English
- A qualified or certified translator must do the translation and sign it in front of a notary public
- Be unmodified - no erasures; nothing crossed out; no correction tape or fluid
- Be the original, a certified copy, or an authenticated copy
Acceptable documents
We will accept a document listed below if the document is applicable, authorized, readable, reliable, and valid:
- Certified copy of a marriage certificate
- Certified copy of a birth certificate
- Certified copy of a divorce decree
- Notarized statement from a person who was present at the death. That person must be able to verify the accuracy of a requested change to the date or place of death
- Legal description (properly recorded with the county recorder) of the place of death
- Court order that instructs a registrar to make the requested change
Court orders
Court orders must:
- Show the first and last names of the decedent as they appear on the death certificate
- Specify the decedent’s date of death or date of birth
- List how the item(s) appear on the death record before the amendment
- List how the item(s) should appear on the death record after the amendment
Changes to the death record are limited to what the court order specifies. If the court-ordered changes are the only changes you want, you do not need to submit any other documents.
If you request changes that are not instructed in the court order, you must submit additional documentation.
Other documents considered
If you cannot provide one of the documents listed above, the state registrar will consider other documents. Make sure you sign the application in front of a notary. Mail the amendment application, the documents that you have, and the $40 amendment fee to the mailing address on the application.
Authority: Minnesota Rules, parts 4601.2100 and 4601.1100