                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

CERTIFIED COPIES OF VITAL RECORDS; OTHER COPIES (§ 32.1-272)

A. In accordance with &#xA7; 32.1-271 and the regulations adopted pursuant
thereto, the State Registrar or a district health department shall, upon receipt
of a written request, issue a certified copy of any vital record in the custody
of the State Registrar or of a part thereof.
			The Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles shall be authorized to
issue a certified copy of a birth, death, marriage, or divorce vital record, or
a part thereof, in the custody of the State Registrar.
			Such vital records in the State Registrar&#8217;s custody may be in the form
of originals, photoprocessed reproductions or data filed by electronic means.
			Each copy issued shall show the date of registration. Any copy issued from a
record marked &#8220;delayed&#8221; or &#8220;amended,&#8221; except a record
amended pursuant to subsection F of this section or subsection E of &#xA7;
32.1-269, shall be similarly marked and show the effective date.
			Certified copies may be issued by county and city registrars only while the
original record is in their possession, except that at the option of the county
or city registrar true and complete copies of death certificates may be retained
and certified copies of such records may be issued by the county or city
registrar.

B. A certified copy of a vital record or any part thereof issued in accordance
with subsection A shall be considered for all purposes the same as the original
and shall be prima facie evidence of the facts therein stated, provided that the
evidentiary value of a vital record filed more than one year after the event or
a vital record which has been amended shall be determined by the judicial or
administrative body or official before whom the certificate is offered as
evidence.

C. The federal agency responsible for national vital statistics may be furnished
such copies or other data from the system of vital records as it may require for
national statistics if such federal agency shares in the cost of collecting,
processing and transmitting such data. Such data may be used for research and
medical investigations of public health importance. No other use of such data
shall be made by the federal agency unless authorized by the State Registrar.

D. Other federal, state and local, public or private agencies or persons in the
conduct of their official duties may, upon request and payment of a reasonable
fee, be furnished copies or other data from the system of vital records for
statistical or administrative purposes upon such terms or conditions as may be
prescribed by the Board. Such copies or other data shall not be used for
purposes other than those for which they were requested unless so authorized by
the State Registrar.
			In promulgating regulations relating to the terms or conditions for public or
private agencies or persons obtaining copies of death certificates in the
conduct of their official duties, the Board shall include within its definition
of &#8220;legal representative&#8221; (i) any attorney licensed to practice law
in Virginia, upon presentation of his bar number and evidence of need to obtain
such copy; and (ii) any funeral director or funeral service licensee licensed to
practice by the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers, upon presentation of
evidence to so practice and evidence of being in charge of final disposition of
the registrant&#8217;s dead human remains or cremains or evidence of need to
obtain such copy.

E. No person shall prepare or issue any certificate which purports to be an
original or certified copy of a vital record except as authorized in this
chapter or regulations adopted hereunder.

F. Certified copies of birth records filed before July 1, 1960, containing
statements of racial designation on the reverse thereof shall be issued without
such statement as a part of the certification; nor for this purpose solely shall
such certification be marked &#8220;amended.&#8221;
			Any American Indian or Native American whose certified copy of a birth record
filed before July 1, 1960, contains a racial designation that is incorrect may
obtain, without paying a fee, one certified copy of his birth record from which
such incorrect racial designation has been removed. Such certification shall not
be marked &#8220;amended&#8221; solely for this reason.

G. With the increased fees to be charged for vital records and the additional
deposits to the Vital Statistics Automation Fund, the Board of Health shall
establish, within the district health departments, a statewide system for
decentralizing certification of vital records, when such records are prepared or
issued from data in the custody of the State Registrar and the Board of Health.
Such system shall include the Department of Motor Vehicles pursuant to the
authorization in subsection A.

H. Any homeless youth, as described in subdivision A 7 of &#xA7; 22.1-3, may
obtain, without paying a fee, a certified copy of his birth record.

HISTORY: Code 1950, § 32-353.27; 1950, pp. 484, 485; 1954, c. 429; 1956, c.
412; 1958, c. 296; 1960, c. 451; 1966, c. 353; 1972, c. 500; 1979, c. 711; 1983,
c. 240; 1994, c. 373; 1997, c. 470; 1999, c. 600; 2005, c. 448; 2013, c. 534;
2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 237; 2025, c. 181.