Tasmania Birth, Death and Marriage Certificates: Fees, Eligibility and How to Apply

Tasmania charges one flat Standard Certificate fee of $60.76 for a birth, death or marriage certificate alike, current as at 18 August 2026; the Registry's fees page publishes no separate effective date. Tasmania's Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages issues certificates under the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1999 (Tas).

Tasmania's registry and its governing Act

Tasmania's Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages sits within the Department of Justice. It issues certificates under the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1999 (Tas), Act No. 58 of 1999, whose long title also covers legal recognition for transgender and gender diverse Tasmanians and people with innate variations of sex characteristics. The current authorised reprint of the Act is certified as at 1 July 2025. A companion instrument, the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Regulations 2019 (Tas), sets out fees and prescribed persons in outline, though its full schedule text could not be independently opened this session.

Certificate fees, current as at 18 August 2026

Tasmania does not charge separate fees for a birth, death or marriage certificate. One flat fee, the Standard Certificate fee of $60.76, applies to all three, along with a change of name or relationship certificate. This article states the fee as current as at 18 August 2026 rather than an official effective date, because the Registry's own fees page, unlike most of its other pages, does not display a last updated or effective from footer. Australian vital records fees commonly reset on 1 July each year, so this figure may already reflect the current financial year, but that cannot be confirmed from the page itself; a reader should check the fees page directly before paying.

Registered Post, the default delivery method, costs an extra $7.55; Express Post costs $9.00. A reader applying for a name change alongside a certificate should note that Tasmania's own registration fee for a change of name, $237.16, is separate from the $60.76 certificate fee above.

Who can apply

For a birth certificate, or a change of name certificate, the eligible applicant is the registered person; a parent; the person's own child, with evidence of the relationship; a legal guardian, with evidence for a non-parent guardian; a current partner, with evidence; or an executor, administrator or trustee of the person's estate, with evidence of authority. A certificate showing gender or change of name details can only be requested by the registered person, or their parent if the person is under 16, unless the registered person has died or is unable to apply. Pre-adoption birth records are accessible to the adopted person with authorisation under section 80 of the Adoption Act 1988.

For a death certificate, the eligible applicant is the deceased's parent, child or partner, with evidence required for a partner, a legal guardian, an executor, administrator or trustee, or a person holding power of attorney or written consent to act for the deceased. For a marriage or relationship certificate, either party to the marriage or relationship can apply, along with a child of the couple, an executor, administrator or trustee, or someone with written authority. The Registrar can also release records case by case to solicitors acting for an eligible person, welfare agencies, law enforcement, consular offices and medical organisations.

Proof of identity

Tasmania does not use a numeric points based identity check. It requires at least 3 current identity documents, at least one showing the applicant's current address, combined as one document from each of categories 1, 2 and 3; or two documents from category 2 plus one from category 1 or 3; or two documents from category 3 plus one from category 1 or 2. Category 1 covers an Australian birth certificate, citizenship certificate or Immicard. Category 2 covers an Australian driver's licence, Australian passport or ASIC or MSIC card, among others. Category 3 covers a Medicare card, a Centrelink or Services Australia card, or a marriage certificate issued by a Births, Deaths and Marriages office, among others.

Postal applicants need their identity documents certified as true copies by a Justice of the Peace, Commissioner for Declarations, solicitor, notary public, or a foreign embassy or consulate; applicants attending a Service Tasmania centre in person bring original documents instead. The Registry's own page carries an internal inconsistency on how recent a utility bill needs to be, stating both 3 months and 12 months in different sections, so an applicant relying on a utility statement should treat recent as the safer standard and confirm directly with the Registry.

Historical records and closed periods

The Registry states that anyone can access a birth record more than 100 years old, a death record more than 25 years old, or a marriage record more than 75 years old, without meeting the ordinary eligibility test. Those figures are Registrar administrative policy, not a rule set by the Act. Reading the full text of the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1999 found no 25 year or 75 year figure anywhere in it, and its only 100 years reference, section 51(1A)(b), governs a narrower and different question, disclosure of a deceased person's sex or gender history, not general public access to a record. Section 44 of the Act instead requires the Registrar to maintain a written statement of the policy on which access is given or denied, which is the actual legal basis for the 100, 25 and 75 year figures published on the Registry's own pages.

How to apply and processing times

Tasmania offers online, postal and in person application channels, plus a dedicated portal for funeral directors and marriage celebrants to lodge or amend records. In person applications go through a Service Tasmania service centre, with original identity documents required. Priority applications can additionally be lodged and printed on site at 7 named centres: Hobart, Launceston, Burnie, Devonport, Huonville, Scottsdale and Sorell.

Standard processing takes approximately 2 weeks, and can take longer during peak periods, per the Registry's own published wording. A priority application, once approved, can be issued the same day; a priority marriage certificate application received after 4.30pm Australian Eastern Standard Time is processed the next business day instead. Certificates are sent by Registered Post by default, with Express Post and international postage available as paid add ons.

Registering a birth

Tasmania's birth registration duty runs in two stages. First, section 11 of the Act requires a responsible person, typically the hospital chief executive if the birth happened in or was brought to hospital within 24 hours, or otherwise the attending medical practitioner or midwife, to give the Registrar notice of the birth within 21 days for a live birth, or 48 hours for a stillbirth. That notice is a clinical and administrative step, separate from full registration.

Second, section 15 makes the child's parents jointly responsible for lodging a birth registration statement, both signing unless impracticable, within 60 days of the birth, or within 120 days where variations of sex characteristics make an assignment of sex difficult. Section 15(2) then guarantees the Registrar must accept a birth registration statement even after the 60 day period ends; there is no statutory cutoff that locks a birth out of registration, only a fine of up to 10 penalty units for missing the deadline. In practice, the Registry's own late registration guidance addresses registrations attempted after 12 months, asking a parent to first obtain a Certificate of No Record, then lodge a signed Birth Registration Statement with supporting documentation. Registering a birth is free.

Registering a death

The Registry's own guidance states that, usually, the funeral director registers a death, since organising disposal of the remains is part of their service; the next of kin supplies the biographical details the funeral director passes to the Registrar. Behind that practical arrangement sit three separate statutory notice duties. Under section 35, the medical practitioner who cared for the deceased, or who examines the body afterward, must notify the Registrar of the death and its cause within 48 hours, unless a coroner or police must instead be notified under the Coroners Act 1995. Under section 36, where a coroner is notified, the coroner must inform the Registrar as soon as practicable; a death certificate issued before a coronial inquiry concludes must be endorsed to note that registration is incomplete because the cause of death is subject to a coronial inquiry.

Under section 37, the funeral director, or whoever arranges disposal, must give the Registrar a written statement within 7 days after the remains are buried or cremated, or within 28 days if the remains are removed from Tasmania before disposal; if the remains are not disposed of within 30 days of death, the funeral director must still notify the Registrar. The Registrar then registers the death under section 38, including on incomplete particulars if that is all that is available. Registering a death is free. A Tasmanian death certificate is a standard document an estate needs when applying for probate.

Changes since 2024

The Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Additional Jurisdictions) Act 2025 amended the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1999 with effect from 1 July 2025. Under the amended section 53, a person dissatisfied with a Registrar decision now applies to the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal for review, rather than to the Magistrates Court's Administrative Appeals Division as under the prior wording. Whether the 2025 Act made any other substantive change beyond moving the forum for review was not confirmed from the sourced material.

For every other state and territory's certificates and fees, see the Australia vital records hub.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a Tasmanian birth, death or marriage certificate cost?

A single Standard Certificate fee of $60.76 covers all three record types, current as at 18 August 2026. The Registry's fees page does not publish a separate effective date, unlike most of its other pages.

Are Tasmania's closed period years for historical records set by law?

No. The Registry's own pages state a birth record opens after more than 100 years, a death record after more than 25 years and a marriage record after more than 75 years, but reading the Act's full text found none of those figures in it. They are Registrar policy issued under section 44 of the Act.

Does Tasmania use a points based identity check?

No. Applicants combine at least 3 documents drawn from 3 categories, rather than accumulating a numeric point total.

How long do Tasmanian parents have to register a birth?

60 days under section 15 of the Act, or 120 days where variations of sex characteristics affect the assignment of sex. A late registration cannot be refused; the Registrar must still accept it.

Who registers a death in Tasmania?

In practice, the funeral director usually registers the death, giving the Registrar a written statement within 7 days after burial or cremation. A treating doctor separately must notify the Registrar of the death within 48 hours.

Where can I apply for a Tasmanian certificate in person?

At a Service Tasmania service centre. Priority same day applications can additionally be lodged and printed on site at Hobart, Launceston, Burnie, Devonport, Huonville, Scottsdale and Sorell.