Birth records are confidential and are not open to the public for the first 75 years after the date of filing.
Death records are also confidential and are not open to the public for the first 25 years after the date of filing. During these periods, both may only be released to a properly qualified applicant. (HSC Sec.191.051; 25 TAC Sec. 181.1; GC 552.115)
Properly Qualified Applicant : a legal representative, personal representative or agent, an immediate family member, or the registrant, who has a direct and tangible interest in the record and who shall have a significant legal relationship to the person whose record is requested. The purpose for which the certified copy is needed and the relationship of the applicant to the registrant are essential to the application to determine if the applicant is properly qualified.
Registrant : The individual named on the certificate of birth, death or fetal death.
Immediate Family Member : A Person’s parent(s), child, sibling(s), spouse, grandparent(s), legal guardian or conservator.
Legal Representative : (Personal representative or agent): Any individual, attorney, funeral director, or other representative acting under contract for the requester, when the requester is not the applicant; or is one bearing an affidavit, authorizing that person, agent, genealogist, or other representative to make application on behalf of the registrant or member of the immediate family for the record or information requested.
An application form or written request for each record must be completed before a certificate will be issued.
We require the following information to locate a birth or death certificate:
1. Person’s full name at birth (if female, we need the maiden name)
2. Date of Birth or Date of Death
3. Parents names (include mother’s maiden name, if known)
4. City of Birth or City of Death
5. Your relationship to the person and photocopy of identification.
A birth certificate search is $23.00 each, and includes a certified copy if a record is found. If the person wasn’t born in Grayson County, but in Texas, we can check our Bureau of Vital Statistics computer. The computer system covers the years 1926 to present date. If the person was issued a Delayed Birth Certificate, you will need to contact the county where the person was born.
The cost for a Death Certificate is $21.00 for the first copy and $4.00 for each additional copy of the same death certificate ordered at the same time. If the person died in another county, then you will need to contact the county where the person died to obtain the record.
Certified copies are the only types of certificates we can issue. The certificate will have the raised seal over the clerk’s signature.
If we are unable to locate a copy of the certificate in our office you can send a request to the
Bureau of Vital Statistics in Austin, Texas. The address is Bureau of Vital Statistics, 1100 W. 49th Street, Austin, Texas 78756-3191. You can also do research through the
Texas State Library and Archives, P.O. Box 12927, Austin, Texas 78711-2927.
We have marriage records on file from 1846 to the present. The records are indexed by the male’s last name from 1846 to 1930, after that they are indexed by both the male’s and female’s last name. Marriage records are open to the public.
We require the following information to locate a marriage record:
1. The man’s full name
2. The female’s full name (the name she was using at the time of marriage)
3. Date of marriage
Certified 1-page copies are $7.00. If you are unsure of the marriage date,
we will research a 10-year period for $5.00 per name. We only have licenses that were issued from Grayson County. If the license wasn’t purchased from this county, you will need to contact the county clerk’s office of the county where it was purchased. If you are unable to locate the record at the county level, you can contact the
Bureau of Vital Statistics in Austin or the
Texas State Library and Archives for records starting in 1966 (same addresses as shown above).