Find Santa Clarita Death Records

Santa Clarita residents seeking death records must contact Los Angeles County, not the city government. All vital records for Santa Clarita are handled by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. This county office maintains death certificates for every city and community in Los Angeles County. Their main facility is in Norwalk, with additional service centers located throughout the county. You can request certificates in person at any county office, order online through the county portal, or submit a mail application with the required paperwork and payment.

Los Angeles County Maintains Death Records

Cities in California do not handle vital records. County offices hold this responsibility under state law.

Santa Clarita death certificates come from Los Angeles County. The county operates a main office at 12400 Imperial Highway in Norwalk. This office serves all 88 cities in Los Angeles County plus unincorporated areas. Business hours run Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. Service centers in other parts of the county can also process death certificate requests.

Los Angeles County keeps records going back many decades. Staff can retrieve both recent and historical death certificates through the same application process. The county charges $23 per copy, which is below the state average of $26.

Ordering Methods for Santa Clarita Death Certificates

You have three choices. Visit a county office. Order online. Mail a request.

In person service at county offices provides the fastest results. Walk in to the Norwalk main office or another service center with your identification and payment. Staff will search for the record and print it while you wait if the death occurred recently. Older records may need a few days to pull from storage. Bring a valid photo ID and be ready to pay $23 per certificate. The county accepts cash, checks, money orders, and credit cards.

Online ordering happens through the Los Angeles County application portal. Fill out the web form with details about the deceased person and your contact information. Pay by credit card. The certificate gets mailed to your address. Processing takes about two to three weeks. This method saves you a trip but is slower than walking in.

Mail applications require you to download and complete the death record request form from the county website. Send it with a check or money order payable to Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. Include your return address clearly. Mail to the Norwalk office address shown on the form. Expect four to six weeks for processing and delivery.

Who Can Get an Authorized Copy

California restricts who may receive authorized death certificates. Anyone can get an informational copy.

Authorized copies require proof of relationship under Health and Safety Code Section 103526. You must be the spouse, domestic partner, parent, child, sibling, grandparent, or grandchild of the deceased. Legal representatives appointed by a court, attorneys handling the estate, and government officials on official business also qualify. To receive an authorized copy, you must sign a notarized sworn statement under penalty of perjury declaring your eligibility.

Informational copies do not require notarization or proof of relationship. Any person can order these. The certificate will have a stamp reading "INFORMATIONAL, NOT A VALID DOCUMENT TO ESTABLISH IDENTITY" printed across it. These copies work for family history and personal records but lack legal validity for matters like probate or benefit claims. The price is the same as authorized copies.

When Records Become Available

Death records need about two weeks to process after the death occurs. Do not try to order immediately.

After a death, the funeral home submits paperwork to the county. A physician must certify the cause of death. County staff then enter the information into their system and create the official record. This process takes roughly 14 days. If you request a certificate too early, the county will not find it and you will still pay the search fee.

Call the county office before ordering if you are unsure whether enough time has passed. Staff can check their database to confirm the record is ready. The contact information appears on the county records request page. Have the full name and date of death available when you call.

Accessing Older Santa Clarita Death Records

Los Angeles County maintains historical death records from the 1800s forward. Retrieval time varies based on the age of the record.

For deaths before July 1905, only the county has records. The state office in Sacramento does not maintain anything from before that date. Contact Los Angeles County directly for pre-1905 deaths. These old records may be on microfilm or in paper archives. Staff need extra time to locate and copy them, but the records remain accessible.

Many historical Los Angeles County death records have been digitized and posted on genealogy websites like Ancestry and FamilySearch. These are informational only and are not certified. If you need a certified copy for legal purposes, you must order through the county even if you found the record online.

What Information You Need

Have these details ready when you submit your request:

• Full legal name of deceased
• Date of death or approximate year
• City or location of death in Los Angeles County
• Your relationship to the deceased
• Your mailing address

More information helps staff find the record faster. If you do not know the exact date, provide the month and year or a range of years. The county will search based on what you give them. They keep the $23 fee whether they find the record or not because the fee covers the search effort.

Can You Use the State Office

Yes. The California Department of Public Health maintains copies of all death records from July 1905 to the present.

However, the state office is much slower than the county. According to the state processing times page, the average wait is five to seven weeks. Los Angeles County handles mail orders in four to six weeks and walk in requests the same day. The state charges $24 by mail or $26 through VitalChek, while the county charges just $23 with no extra fees for online orders.

For Santa Clarita deaths, using Los Angeles County is faster and cheaper. The state office makes sense only if you do not know which county the death occurred in or if you need certificates from multiple counties across California.

Other Los Angeles County Cities

Los Angeles County includes 88 cities. All use the same county office for death records.

Major cities with pages: Los Angeles, Long Beach, Glendale

Other cities in the county include Pasadena, Torrance, Pomona, Lancaster, Palmdale, Burbank, Inglewood, Downey, and many more. Contact Los Angeles County for death records from any city or unincorporated area in the county.