When you or your staff are initiating death certificates, it is very important to use/reference the resources listed here:

• Birth & Death Registration Handbook. Email us to request a copy on CD.
• Death Certificate Guidelines (revised 08/06) - issued by the Medical Examiner/Coroner
• Communicable Diseases (revised 12/09) - must be reported to the Coroner's Office
• Medical Data Supplemental Worksheet (revised 01/06) - used for the confidential portion of the fetal death certificate
• VS9 Burial Permit (revised 01/08) - used for Emergency files, Ship-Ins, Fetal Death Certificates, and EDRS outages. All other burial permits are available through EDRS.

Electronic Death Registration System (EDRS)

The web-based Electronic Death Registration System (EDRS) provides the ability for coroner's, funeral directors, doctors, and hospitals to submit electronic death certificates for registration 24 hours a day. Visit http://edrs.ucdavis.edu/edrs/index.jsp or call the office for more information or to obtain a user account. When using EDRS to file with Santa Clara County, use/resources listed here:

• Death Registration Policy for Santa Clara County (revised 01/12) - each county may have different requirements.
• CA-EDRS Universal Fax Sheet (revised 07/07) - to request changes to a current record.
• Modification Request Form (revised 07/08) - request a change to something about EDRS.

Ordering Certified Copies

Please use this:

• Memo to Funeral Homes (revised 12/11)
• Funeral Home Application 2012

Service Promise

Our death registration staff will make every attempt to fulfill death certificate orders received via drop-off or mail within 2-3 business days. If you have "ship-outs" going out of the country that need to be processed more quickly, you can 1) come to our office to pick-up orders or 2) send a prepaid express delivery envelope for faster return service.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about our filing services, causes-of-death, etc., please call our office using our dedicated funeral home line at 408-885-2008 or use the EDRS "Submit Medical Information (MI) for Local Registrar (LR) Review" feature.