State of Florida Vital Records
Original Florida Department of Health Building located in Jacksonville
Vital Statistics consists of official records
for birth, death, fetal death, marriage, and dissolution of marriage (divorce).
These records are essential for just administration of our law and for the
protection of individual rights. In addition, the statistical data from these
records are of great value to public health and other agencies. The need for accurate statistical
data on epidemics and the causes of death was instrumental in establishing our
present day vital statistics registration system. Before 1899, some cities
enacted city ordinances requiring the recording of vital events and provided
their own system for vital statistics. The City of Key West has the oldest
known records, dating back to 1865. A law was enacted in 1927 providing for the
centralization of marriage and divorce records. Currently, the Office of Vital
Statistics maintains approximately 21.5 million vital records.
Physicians' Online Tutorial for Completing Cause of Death on the Florida Death
Record
The Department of Health Bureau of Vital Statistics, in cooperation with the
Florida Medical Association and the Florida Association of Medical Examiners,
has developed an online tutorial for
physicians. This tutorial is constructed for
physicians, providing an overview of the death registration process in
Florida and how to go about properly completing the medical information on the
death record.
The tutorial provides sample case histories; an explanation of the physicians,
the medical examiners, and the funeral director’s responsibilities in getting
death records filed; how mortality data is used and why the death record is so
important to families.
The Florida Medical Association
has approved this activity for
AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM.
This complimentary tutorial takes about one hour to complete.
View
Brochure
Apostilles/Exemplified Certificates ~ Then and Now
November 1, 2010
Bureau of Vital Statistics
What is it?
An Apostille is a certification provided under the Hague
convention of 1961 for authenticating documents for use in foreign countries.
An Exemplified certification covers those countries who did not sign the Hague
Treaty. The sole function of the Apostille or Exemplified certificate is to
certify the authenticity of the signature of the document. In Florida, the
Apostille or Exemplified certificate contains the original signature of the
State Registrar and the Secretary of State.
Apostilles
Then
A client would request an Apostille/Exemplified from our state
office. At a cost of $29 for a birth certificate, plus a separate $10 fee for
the Florida Secretary of State, our office would process the certificate, then
mail it, along with the $10 payment, to the Secretary of State in Tallahassee.
The Secretary of State would process their Apostille or Exemplified
certification and then mail the certificate with Apostille or Exemplified
certification back to the customer. The process would take about two weeks.
Apostilles
Now
Today, at a cost of only $9 for a birth certificate, a client
will receive from our office a certificate suitable to be Apostilled or
Exemplified for the country of use. The customer then provides it directly to
the Secretary of State in Tallahassee to get the Apostille/Exemplified for $10.
Benefits
to the new process
The number one benefit is the cost savings to our clients. In
today’s economy, everyone is looking for ways to save money, and with the new
process, the customer can do just that. Additional advantages to the process are
that it reduces our response time, shortening the turnaround time, and thus
saves time for the customer, and with the certificate going directly to the
client, it lessens the chance of the certificate not getting to its final
destination.
