Dana, Hi! As Dee Dee posted, death certificates for New Jersey can be ordered if they are for deaths more than 40 years ago. You didn't say when the death occurred, but you do have some other options before sending to the NJ State Health Dept and spending the $25. 1) For deaths up to 1955, you utilize the holdings of the NJ State Archives. (They offer a mail reference service for May 1848 - December 1900.) 2) Deaths 1956-1972, if you know the town where the person died, then you can request the death certificate from the town's health department. Most health departments that I've dealt with do genealogical searches and can be cheaper than the state fee. 3) Post-1972, an alternate route to the certificate would be to search for an estate file for the decedent. Death certs are part of the files for testate and intestate filings. 4) NJ Health Department request... If you have other questions on NJ research, ask away. :) Michelle -- Michelle Tucker Chubenko Member, Association of Professional Genealogists www.chubenko.us/profgen/ www.facebook.com/JerseyRootsGenealogy www.twitter.com/JerseyRootsGeni "Things don't turn up in this world until somebody turns them up." - James A. Garfield On 12/15/2012 11:57 AM, transitional-genealogists-forum-request@rootsweb.com wrote: > 3. Ordering documents for clients (Genealady) > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 3 > Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2012 07:56:45 -0800 > From: Genealady <genealady@gmail.com> > Subject: [TGF] Ordering documents for clients > To: "transitional-genealogists-forum@rootsweb.com" > <transitional-genealogists-forum@rootsweb.com> > Message-ID: <344149CC-C8CE-4E60-A766-1D40BDED740A@gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > Hello everyone! > > I accepted my first paying client recently (woo!) and I've tracked his family to the point I need the death certificate to look for the parents. Long story short - when you need to order documents but the state (NJ in this case) wants direct descendants to order only, what do you do? My client doesn't want to do that stuff, wants me to do it, but how does that work? It said I'd need a copy of his ID, but he lives in Ireland. Advice would be welcome! > > Thank you! > Dana Elliott > www.justfolks.us