Certified copy

What it means

A certified copy is produced by the record's custodian — a vital records office, a court clerk — and bears a raised seal, a colored stamp, or a signed certification.

It is not the original, and it is not a copy you made. Photocopying a certified copy produces an uncertified copy, however official the copy underneath looks.

Some organizations will accept an uncertified copy and return it; many will not say which they are until you have sent the wrong one.

Why it matters

Sending a photocopy where a certified copy is required is a delay of days or weeks, and it happens most often at the point where somebody is trying to move fast.

Certified copies are also usually kept by whoever you send them to, which is why the question is always how many rather than whether.

When you are likely to meet it

• When a bank or insurer asks for a certified death certificate.
• When a court asks for certified letters showing your authority.
• When a motor vehicle agency asks for proof of a death or of an appointment.

How this varies by state

Who may obtain one, what proof they must show, and what it costs are set by each state's vital records law.

Related terms

• Abstract of deathA short official record of a death, accepted in place of a full certificate where a state allows it.
• Amending a death certificateCorrecting an error on the record after it has been registered — which is done, and is not quick.
• ApostilleA certificate authenticating a public document so it can be used in another country.
• DD Form 214The discharge document proving military service. Almost every veterans' benefit after a death depends on producing it.
• Death certificateThe official record of a death, issued by a state or local vital records office, and the document nearly every organization will ask to see.
• Letters of administrationThe court document proving somebody has been appointed to handle an estate where there is no will.
• Letters testamentaryThe court document proving that the person named in a will has actually been appointed to act.
• Medallion signature guaranteeA bank's stamp guaranteeing a signature on a securities transfer. It is not a notarization.
• Prima facieEnough on its face. A document or a fact that is accepted as proof unless somebody produces something better.
• Probate courtThe court that supervises estates. In many states it is a division of a general trial court and goes by another name.
• Transfer agentThe company a corporation employs to keep its share register and to move shares from one owner to another.
• Vital records officeThe state or county office that registers births and deaths and issues certified copies of the certificates.
• LettersThe court's certificate that somebody has been appointed to act for an estate: letters testamentary when there is a will, letters of administration when there is not.

Sahvelo guidance that uses this

• Death certificates