State BVS accepts major credit cards. Cost then is $29.50 for birth and $26.50 for
death certificates. State BVS accepts major credit card requests by telephone by call
(218) 847-2151.
Requests for birth certificates (BC) for illegitimate children must be accompanied
by a consent statement signed by the subject individual (if 18 or over) or by the
parent or guardian.
There are no free verifications. Claimants should be encouraged to purchase their
documents directly. If SSA is paying for the document, servicing FO should include
a check from their imprest funds made payable to State Dept. of Health, Vital Statistics,
and forward to the Parallel DO with their request for the document.
IMPORTANT: State-issued BCs prior to 2001 have a state file number (SFN), but local county BCs
usually do not. Since 2001, all MN BCs are abstracts issued from the same central
database and have the same format, the same type of security paper, and do not have
SFNs. The state plans to initiate a new BC process in approximately April 2011 and,
at that time, both state and local BCs will have an SFN and there will be no difference
in the appearance of state and local MN BCs.
Can FO verify, certify or obtain free copy of birth/death record? No