Free Certified Birth Records? Maybe when Pigs Fly

There are two kinds of birth records: free ones and official ones. If you need an official copy of your birth record, it won't be free. Your birth state will collect its handling fee for making the copy, and there will be commercial companies grabbing for your money too.

Many companies promise free birth records. After investigating a couple dozen of these companies, the only thing I found that was free was looking at their website. After that, getting a certified birth record from them costs money on top of the state fee.

CAUTION: If you choose to buy a birth record from a commercial vendor, you are handing over a lot of personal information including your credit card and social security numbers. I recommend that you deal exclusively with your birth state's official vital records department to minimize your risk of identity theft.

If not free, what's the cheapest way to get a certified birth record?

The cheapest way to get a certified birth record - the sort you need for legal purposes - is to visit your birth state's website. Search Google for the name of the state and the words "birth certificate". Ignore all the promises of free certificates and go straight to the state's own website. Look at the website address for something like "state.oh.us" to make sure you have the site of an official state agency. Beware: some of the commercial sites look and sound extremely official.

Download the forms, fill in the blanks and send the state the payment in the form they prefer. They will mail you the certified copy of the birth record, and charge extra for express mail. If you are in a hurry, most states have a fast-track application for birth records. Naturally, it costs more than the normal process. Montana, for example, will refer you to a subcontractor company for expedited birth records. You pay the expeditor's fee as well as the state's fee, but you can knock a couple of weeks of the wait for a certified birth record.

NOTE: There are limitations on who can acquire a certified birth record, and it varies from state to state. You can always request your own birth record, and a minor child's record, but you probably couldn't get a certified copy of your neighbor's or your boss's birth records.

Are there any free birth records available?

Most states issue you one freebie, when you are born. If you keep it in a safe place it should last you the rest of your life. A few states may replace personal documents for free if you lost the records in a disaster - that's a heck of a way to get a free birth record, but keep it in mind if a tornado takes your house.

Many genealogy sites offer access to databases full of birth data, often searchable for free. Some states allow you to search their birth record indexes for free. Here's the catch: unless it's a certified birth record, it's not official enough to get you a passport, get you a driver's license or get your child into kindergarten. It's not even enough to get you into the Daughters of the American Revolution. However, if all you want is a copy of a birth record for a family history, these will do.

One slightly sleazy tactic I discovered is that a genealogy site will allow free searches, but then make you pay to see the results of the search.