For your convenience, Wayne County has partnered with an independant company, VitalChek Network, Inc.
You can now order and pay for your document requests online, through their website.
Certified copies of birth certificates OUTSIDE OF THE CITY OF DETROIT may be obtained in person or by mail. Please print out the appropriate application or forward a written request (along with a copy of Driver's License or State I.D.) to the address below.
All requests must be written in letter form and must include the signature, phone number, and return address of the individual requesting the record. Additionally, please include the DATE OF BIRTH, FULL NAME AT THE TIME OF BIRTH, and THE CITY OF BIRTH. Please note that valid identification is required [i.e. a driver's license or state I.D. card] for IN PERSON AND MAIL REQUESTS. If no such identification is available, two pieces of other I.D. that require a signature may be used [i.e. a social security card, voter registration card, passport, school I.D., and/or work I.D.]. Identification must be presented at the time of the request. And again, if you are sending a request by mail, A PHOTO-COPY OF YOUR I.D. MUST BE INCLUDED.
Home births may be recorded in our DOWNTOWN office within one year of the birth only if it occurred in a city within Wayne County that DOES NOT register their own births. Otherwise, if a home birth occurred in a city that DOES register its own births, it must be recorded in that office.
Forms for Acknowledgement of Paternity can only be obtained by coming to our DOWNTOWN office location. These forms are used to add the father's name to the birth certificate and/or change the child's name to the father's name.
Fees for obtaining a certified copy of a birth certificate are $24 for the first copy, and $7 for each additional copy of the same record. For senior citizens that are at least 65 years of age and are purchasing THEIR OWN birth certificate, the first certified copy is $2, and it is $3 for each additional copy of the same record. Mail requests must be paid for with a money order or certified check made out to the Wayne County Clerk. NO PERSONAL CHECKS!
c80f0f1006