licenses & feesstate

No Fee for a Vital Record Copy — Birth, Death, Marriage or Divorce

The Department may not collect its $10 or $12 certificate fee from a current or former member of the uniformed services, or from a surviving spouse or child where the copy supports a claim for a dependent or beneficiary.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

What it's worth: $10 to $12 a certificate, and $12 for each extra death certificate in the same order

The fees the waiver switches off are $10 for a certified or abridged birth certificate, $10 for the first certified or abridged death certificate in a single transaction, $12 for each additional death certificate provided concurrently, and $12 for a fetal death, marriage or divorce verification certificate.
The weight assumes a small handful of certificates. A family assembling a full claim file — a marriage certificate plus several death certificates — saves rather more, because the $12 additional-copy fee is the one that multiplies.
This is a state fee only. A copy ordered through a commercial ordering service still carries that service’s own charge, which Maryland does not set and cannot waive.

Who is entitled to it

You are the servicemember or veteran, or a surviving spouse or child.
Your home is in Maryland.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

1Say what the copy is for when you order. The statutory waiver is written around the purpose of the copy, not around a veteran discount, so an order that does not state the purpose is an order that gets charged.
2If you are the servicemember or veteran yourself, the waiver in §4-217(c)(6)(i)(1) attaches to you directly — a current or former member of the uniformed services.
3If you are a surviving spouse or child, the condition in §4-217(c)(6)(i)(2) applies: the copy must be used in connection with a claim for a dependent or beneficiary of the member.
4Bring the discharge document. Nothing in the statute prescribes the proof, so the counter will ask for what it usually asks for — a DD214 and photo identification are the safe pairing.
5Order the death certificates you need in one transaction. Where the fee is charged, additional concurrent copies are $12 each rather than $10, so a second order later costs more, not less.
6A federal agency asking on your behalf is a different route: the Secretary may waive a fee chargeable to an agency of the United States, which is a separate power in the same subsection.

File with: Division of Vital Records, Maryland Department of Health
Documents you will need: dd214 · photo id
No renewal: Once granted it does not need renewing.

CorrectionThis is not a blanket veterans’ discount on certificates. For a surviving spouse or child the statute ties the waiver to a copy used in connection with a claim for a dependent or beneficiary of the member — a copy wanted for genealogy, a passport or a property matter is chargeable.

Worth knowingThe statute says "uniformed services", which is wider than "armed forces". It is worth asking rather than assuming if your service was in one of the uniformed services outside the Department of Defense.

Known gapThe Division of Vital Records’ own ordering page names a fee but neither the amount nor the military waiver. Neither the amount of proof required nor a limit on the number of free copies is published anywhere we could read, so ask the Division before assuming a large order will be free.

Sources

authority · statuteMd. Code, Health-Gen. §4-217 — Copies of birth, death, fetal death, or marriage certificates; fees and waivers
operating · published policyMaryland Department of Health, Division of Vital Records — Death Certificates

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.