Wyoming Electronic Death Registration

Filing a death certificate in Wyoming involves a system most families never think about until they need it. Wyoming uses an Electronic Death Registration (EDR) system that streamlines the process for hospitals, coroners, and licensed funeral directors. But if your family is handling arrangements without a funeral home, you need to know about the paper backup system — because the EDR is not available to you.

How the EDR System Works

Wyoming's Electronic Death Registration system allows authorized users — licensed funeral directors, hospitals, medical examiners, and county coroners — to file death certificates digitally. The EDR coordinates the medical certification (cause and manner of death) with the demographic information (name, date of birth, social security number, parents' names) into a single electronic record.

When a funeral home handles arrangements, they access the EDR system, enter the demographic data based on information provided by the family, and coordinate with the attending physician or coroner to complete the medical certification portion. Once both sections are complete, the electronic certificate is transmitted to the Wyoming Department of Health, Vital Statistics Services.

The EDR system is faster than paper filing. Electronic submissions are processed more quickly, and certified copies become available sooner. For families working with a funeral home, the EDR is invisible — the funeral director handles it as part of their standard service.

The Paper System for Family-Directed Funerals

Wyoming law allows families to act as their own funeral director under W.S. § 35-1-418(b). The statute refers to a "funeral director or person acting as such" — empowering a designated family member to assume full administrative responsibility for the deceased.

However, the EDR system is proprietary software that requires authorized credentials. Families conducting a home funeral or family-directed funeral cannot access it. Wyoming maintains an all-paper system as an essential backup for exactly this situation.

The paper process requires the family to:

1. Obtain a blank death certificate from a local registrar, county coroner, or hospital
2. Coordinate the medical certification — the attending physician, medical examiner, or county coroner must physically sign the cause-of-death section within 24 hours
3. Complete the demographic sections with the decedent's personal information
4. File the completed paper certificate with the local health registrar within three days of the death

The three-day filing deadline is statutory and non-negotiable. Missing it will prevent the issuance of a burial-transit permit, which legally paralyzes the family's ability to proceed with burial, cremation, or any other disposition.

Ordering Certified Copies

Once the death certificate has been filed, certified copies can be ordered from the Wyoming Department of Health, Vital Statistics Services in Cheyenne.

Fees:

• First certified copy: $25
• Each additional copy ordered at the same time: $20

These fees include a $5 surcharge that supports Wyoming's indigent burial fund.

How to order:

• By mail to Vital Statistics Services in Cheyenne with payment and required identification
• In person at the Cheyenne office
• Through the official state online portal (verify you are on a .gov website)

How many to order: Most estate administrators need five to ten certified copies. Banks, insurance companies, the Social Security Administration, property title companies, and the DMV each typically require their own copy. Some institutions retain the original rather than returning it.

Warning about third-party sites: The Deputy State Registrar has explicitly warned consumers to avoid third-party online aggregators that appear in search results. These sites charge three to four times the statutory fee while actually delaying processing compared to ordering directly.

The Connection to Burial-Transit Permits

The death certificate and the burial-transit permit are linked. Under Wyoming Statute § 35-1-420, the local registrar will only issue a burial-transit permit once the death certificate has been satisfactorily completed and filed. No certificate means no permit, and no permit means no legal disposition of the body.

For families managing the process without a funeral director, this connection creates a strict sequence: secure the medical certification, complete the demographic sections, file the paper certificate, then obtain the burial-transit permit — all within the overlapping three-day and 72-hour deadlines.

The Wyoming Funeral Laws & Consumer Rights Guide covers the entire death registration and vital records process, including the exact forms, deadlines, and filing requirements your family needs whether you are working with a funeral home or handling arrangements independently.

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