Vital records,
as their name suggests, are connected with central life
events: birth, marriage, and death. Maintained by civil
authorities, they are prime sources of genealogical
information; but, unfortunately, official vital records are
available only for relatively recent periods. These records,
despite their recent creation in the United States, are
critically important in genealogical research, often
supplying details on family members well back into the
nineteenth century.
The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy,
by Loretto Szucs and Sandra Luebking.
Make certified cashier's check or money order payable to Hawaii State
Department of Health. If a record is not found after a search has been
conducted, all fees collected will be retained. The fee covers the cost of
the search.
Vital records (birth, death, marriage, and divorce certificates) for
events that occurred in Hawaii are received and preserved by the Office of
Health Status Monitoring, a unit of the Department of Health. In Hawaii,
access to vital records is restricted by statute (HRS §338-18).
Certified copies of these records may be issued to authorized
individuals and used for such diverse purposes as school entry, passports,
Social Security participation, driver’s licenses, employment, sports
participation, survivor’s benefits, proof of property rights, and other
needs
WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO APPLY FOR CERTIFIED COPIES OF VITAL
RECORDS
A certified copy of a vital record (birth, death, marriage, or divorce
certificate) is issued only to an applicant who has a direct and tangible
interest in the record. The following persons are considered to have such
an interest:
the registrant (the person whom the record is concerned with);
the registrant’s spouse;
the registrant’s parent(s);
a descendant of the registrant (e.g., a child or grandchild);
a person having a common ancestor with the registrant (e.g., a
sibling, grandparent, aunt/uncle, or cousin);
a legal guardian of the registrant;
a person or agency acting on behalf of the registrant;
a personal representative of the registrant’s estate;
a person whose right to obtain a copy of the record is established
by an order of a court of competent jurisdiction;
adoptive parents who have filed a petition for adoption and need to
determine the death of one or more of the prospective adopted child’s
natural or legal parents;
a person who needs to determine the marital status of a former
spouse in order to determine the payment of alimony;
a person who needs to determine the death of a nonrelated co-owner
of property purchased under a joint tenancy agreement; and
a person who needs a death certificate for the determination of
payments under a credit insurance policy.
If you are not able to establish a direct and tangible interest in
the record, you are ineligible and will not be issued a certified copy of
the record.
Upon request, a letter of verification attesting to the existence of a
requested record on file with the Department of Health may be issued.
Instructions for applying for letters of verification are included in the
next section and immediately follow the set of instructions on applying
for certified copies.
Application forms for downloading are in Adobe Acrobat portable
document format (pdf). Abode Acrobat Reader software must be available on
your computer in order for you to make use of the downloaded forms. This
software may also be downloaded if you do not already have it on your
computer.
If the records are not available at the State office, they should be
available from the Circuit Court in the county where the divorce was
granted. Fees vary.
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