Sonoma County Death Records

Death certificates for Sonoma County are maintained by the Clerk-Recorder-Assessor office in Santa Rosa. You can get certified copies for deaths in Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Sebastopol, Healdsburg, Windsor, and all other parts of the county. The office offers online ordering through VitalChek, mail requests, and walk in service. Each copy costs $24.00, which is lower than the standard California fee. The office keeps records from the 1800s to present.

Clerk-Recorder-Assessor Office

The Sonoma County Clerk-Recorder-Assessor handles all vital records for the county. The main office is in Santa Rosa, the county seat.

Walk in service is available during business hours. You can request a death certificate and staff will search the files. Recent records can often be completed the same day. Older records may take a few days to retrieve and certify. Call ahead if you want to confirm they have the record before you visit.

For detailed information, visit the county website at sonomacounty.ca.gov/administrative-support-and-fiscal-services/clerk-recorder-assessor-registrar-of-voters/clerk-recorder/vital-records/death-certificates. The site provides office hours, contact information, and forms.

Death Certificate Costs

Each death certificate costs $24.00 in Sonoma County. This is lower than the standard California fee of $26.00. The county sets its own fee within state guidelines.

At the office, you can pay by cash, check, or money order. Make checks payable to Sonoma County Clerk-Recorder-Assessor. Online orders through VitalChek accept credit cards and debit cards, but VitalChek adds service fees on top of the base $24.00 price. Expect to pay around $40 to $50 total when using VitalChek, depending on shipping speed.

The search fee is not refunded if the office cannot locate a record. Make sure you have accurate information before ordering. If the death occurred in a different county, you still pay the fee with no refund.

Order Death Certificates Online

Sonoma County uses VitalChek for online ordering. VitalChek is a third party vendor authorized by the state to process vital record requests.

Go to www.vitalchek.com and select California, then Sonoma County. Enter the full name of the person who died, the date of death, and the location in the county where the death occurred. The system will ask if you want an authorized copy or an informational copy.

Authorized copies require you to be a close relative. You must upload a notarized sworn statement proving your relationship. Authorized requesters include the spouse, domestic partner, parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling of the deceased. If you do not qualify, choose an informational copy instead. Informational copies cost the same but have a stamp that says they cannot be used to establish identity.

VitalChek accepts credit cards and debit cards. After you complete the order, they process it and mail the certificate to your address. You can choose standard shipping or pay extra for overnight delivery. Processing typically takes one to two weeks plus shipping time.

Who Can Get an Authorized Copy

California law controls who can request an authorized death certificate. The statute is Health and Safety Code Section 103526.

The law allows spouses, domestic partners, parents, children, grandparents, grandchildren, and siblings to get authorized copies. Legal representatives appointed by a court can also request them. Funeral directors acting on behalf of an authorized family member can order death certificates without the family present.

To get an authorized copy, you must sign a sworn statement under penalty of perjury and have it notarized. The statement declares that you are legally entitled to receive the certificate. You can download the form VS 112 from the California Department of Public Health website.

If you do not qualify as an authorized requester, you can still get an informational copy. Anyone can order an informational copy without proving their relationship. The informational copy shows all the same data but has a legend printed on it stating it is not valid to establish identity. These copies work for genealogy or personal records but not for legal purposes.

Information Required to Order

Gather these details before you place your order:

• Full legal name of the deceased
• Date of death or approximate year
• City or location in Sonoma County where death occurred
• Your name and current address
• Your relationship to the deceased

The more exact your information, the faster the search. If you know only the year, the office can search a range of dates, but this takes more time. The search fee is not refunded if they cannot find a match.

Processing and Wait Times

Walk in service at the Santa Rosa office is the fastest option. Recent death records can often be printed while you wait or within a few hours. Older records may take a few business days to retrieve and certify.

Mail requests typically take one to two weeks for processing after the office receives your application. Add a few more days for postal delivery. Total time from mailing your request to receiving the certificate can be three weeks.

Online orders through VitalChek have similar processing times. The county processes the request in one to two weeks, then VitalChek ships it to you. Expedited shipping speeds up delivery after the certificate is ready, but the county still needs time to pull and certify the record.

Death records become available about two weeks after the date of death. Do not order right away. Wait at least two weeks for the county to file the official record.

Older Death Records

Sonoma County has death records going back to the 1800s. Very old records may be incomplete or stored differently than modern certificates. If you need a record from before 1905, contact the Clerk-Recorder-Assessor to confirm availability.

The California State Archives in Sacramento holds some pre-1905 vital records from select counties. Call the State Archives at 916-653-6814 to ask if they have Sonoma County death records from your time period.

Records more than 75 years old are open for public research without restriction. You do not need to prove a relationship to access these older records.

Cities in Sonoma County

Sonoma County includes several cities. All death records for these cities are kept by the county Clerk-Recorder-Assessor in Santa Rosa.

Cities in the county include Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Sebastopol, Healdsburg, Windsor, Sonoma, Cloverdale, and Cotati. None of these cities maintain their own vital records offices. Contact the county for death certificates from any location within Sonoma County.

Nearby Counties

If the death occurred outside Sonoma County, you need to contact the county where it happened. Nearby counties include Marin County, Napa County, Mendocino County, Lake County, and Solano County.

Each county maintains its own vital records. California law requires you to order from the county where the death occurred. If you are not sure which county, you can order from the state. The California Department of Public Health Vital Records has death records from all counties since July 1905. State processing takes longer, usually five to seven weeks, and costs $24.00 per copy.