Uncovering the Truth: How to Access Colorado Death Records (2024)

FAQs

Uncovering the Truth: How to Access Colorado Death Records? ›

These records are held by the State Archives and may be accessed by online, phone, mail or in-person request. Death Certificates issued after 1908 are not held by the Archives. Please contact Certificates and Vital Records for these records.

A copy or an extract of most original records can be purchased from the Colorado Vital Records State Department of Health or the County Clerk's office of the county where the event occurred. See also Colorado Statewide Indexes and Collections at the FamilySearch Library.

Death certificates may be issue to a current spouse, parent, shared parentage, siblings/half siblings, children, or a legal representative of those named.

The Home Affairs ID Verification will provide registered details on an individual with an SA ID number. The Home Affairs IDV provides the following information: Vitality Status ('Deceased' status can include date and place of death.

Autopsy reports are public record under the Colorado Public Records Act, § 30-10-601. There are no charges to request a copy.

In 2014 Federal legislation changed the rules for access to the Social Security Death Master File. Records for the most recent 3 years are not available.

Confirming death:

Check for response to painful stimuli. Check if pupils are fixed, dilated and unresponsive to light. Look, listen and feel for breath sounds and respiratory effort for 2 minutes. Look, listen and feel for central pulse and heart sounds for 2 minutes.

In most cases, you're likely to hear the news directly from close family or friends of the deceased. If not, you may find out through an announcement in the local paper. There are also online platforms that publish details of recent deaths.

Funeral home records vary in format and content, but they can all be valuable for determining someone's death date. Check genealogical and historical societies; state, county, and local libraries; and municipal archives for possible holdings.

How do you find out the cause of death of a person? ›

A death certificate is a permanent public record of the disease or injury responsible for the death (the cause of death) and the explanation of how the cause arose (the manner of death).

This includes a spouse, siblings, and children. But death certificates can be requested by anyone when they become public record. In some states, death certificates are released 25 or more years after death. Check with your state's vital records office to find out when death certificates become public record.

Vital records, including birth, death, adoption, marriage, and divorce, are confidential per Colorado state statute (C.R.S. 25-2-117). As a result, Colorado vital records are not public records and therefore not searchable online. Vital records can only be released to those who are eligible.

We are an authorized online vital records ordering service for California Vital Statistics. That means we can process your request fast, affordably, and securely.

A death certificate is issued after the examination is completed. Occasionally, more extensive testing is required, in which case a pending death certificate may be issued. A final death certificate will be issued following completion of all tests and investigation. This may take eight to 10 weeks.

The two major obituary resources are the Denver Obituary Project from the Denver Public Library and the Colorado Obituary Project from the Colorado Genealogical Society.

We are an authorized online vital records ordering service for California Vital Statistics. That means we can process your request fast, affordably, and securely.

Colorado requires a qualified medical professional to be no- tified and to make the official pronouncement of death. If the death is unattended, call the family physician, hospice provider, or the Coroner's Office for the county in which the death occurs. Some counties also need you to notify law en- forcement.