New Brunswick Vital Records: Birth, Death & Marriage Certificates

In New Brunswick, birth, death, and marriage certificates are ordered through the Vital Statistics Branch of Service New Brunswick under the Vital Statistics Act, SNB 1979, c. V-3, and cost $40 online or $45 by mail or in person.

Who Issues Vital Records in New Brunswick and Under What Law

New Brunswick's vital records are issued by the Vital Statistics Branch, operated by Service New Brunswick, a Crown corporation administered by the Government of New Brunswick under an independent Board of Directors rather than a traditional line department. The governing law is the Vital Statistics Act, SNB 1979, c. V-3.

Section 1.1 of the Act states plainly: Service New Brunswick is responsible for the administration of this Act. The Act defines Minister as the member of the Executive Council designated by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council as being responsible for Service New Brunswick, and it establishes a Registrar General of Vital Statistics, with a Deputy Registrar General and designated staff, at section 2.

Who Can Order What

New Brunswick's eligibility rules differ meaningfully by certificate type, and its death certificate rule is looser than the tighter, relationship-restricted long form some neighboring provinces use.

Birth certificate. You can apply if you are the person named, provided you are 16 or older; a parent of a child under 16 who is listed on the record, or who can provide court proof of parentage; a parent of a mentally incapable child over 16, with a physician's letter or court document; anyone holding written authorization from the certificate holder; a court-appointed guardian or the holder of a court order; an applicant for a deceased person's certificate, with proof of death; or anyone required by law or regulation to produce it, with proof of that requirement.

Death certificate. New Brunswick opens this up to anyone with a relationship to the deceased, as long as they supply a valid reason and correct identifying information, meaning the deceased's name, date and place of death, spouse's name and date of birth, and funeral home if known, along with the fee.

Marriage certificate. You can apply if you are a party to the marriage, someone with written authorization signed by a party, the legal representative of an incapacitated party, a child or parent of either party if both parties are deceased, or the Minister of Social Development or their designate for Family Services Act purposes.

Across all three certificate types, New Brunswick's general rule is that written consent must be faxed or mailed in with the application before issuance, except that a parent applying for their own child's certificate does not need separate written consent as long as the child is under 19.

Three certificate-issuance restriction sections in the Act, read directly, back up the classes above: section 39(2) allows a birth certificate to issue if the Registrar General is satisfied it will not be used unlawfully or improperly and the applicant falls within a class prescribed eligible by regulation; section 39(3.1) sets a parallel restriction for marriage certificates; and section 39(5) allows a death certificate to issue to anyone furnishing satisfactory information and the fee, subject to the same improper-use check. The regulation that prescribes the exact eligible classes referenced in sections 39(2) and 39(3.1) was not independently read this article, so the consumer-facing classes above should reflect it but were not cross-checked word for word against the regulation itself.

Fees and Processing Times

New Brunswick's certificate fees, confirmed directly on its official pages, are:

Processing time is not stated on any of the three official certificate pages. That is a genuine gap on New Brunswick's own pages, not a fetch failure, so no processing-time figure is published here; do not assume it matches a neighboring province.

How to Order

New Brunswick offers three channels: online through Service New Brunswick's transaction portal, by mail using a downloadable PDF application form, and, for birth certificates specifically, in person. Payment is by cheque payable to Service New Brunswick, Visa, Mastercard, or American Express.

The Vital Statistics Unit can be reached at P.O. Box 1998, Fredericton, NB E3B 5G4, by phone at 506-453-2385 (option 4 for death or marriage records), or by email at vitalstatistics@snb.ca. Office hours are Monday to Friday, 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., excluding holidays. No separate third-party fulfillment vendor beyond Service New Brunswick's own systems was identified. Specific ID requirements for an application were not detailed on the pages reviewed for this article; confirm directly with Vital Statistics before applying if this matters for your situation.

Older Records and Genealogy

New Brunswick offers two distinct paths into older records, and they are not the same service.

A paid genealogy search through Vital Statistics covers records since 1888, the start of New Brunswick's civil registration. It costs $15 for an initial three-year search period and $10 for each additional three-year period, and returns a statement of facts when a record is found. Events before 1888 are accessible only through microfilm interlibrary loan via the Provincial Archives.

A free, publicly searchable database at the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick covers 1800 to 1975, with 1,166,512 records available as of an August 2026 update. This gives index-level or statement-level access rather than necessarily a certificate substitute.

The Act itself, at section 43.1, confirmed by a direct read of the consolidated text, sets the statutory transfer-to-archives thresholds at 95 years for birth and stillbirth records and 50 years for marriage and death records. There is an unreconciled tension worth flagging: the free Archives database runs through 1975, while the Act's 95-year birth threshold would put the transferred cutoff nearer 1931 as of 2026. No official page was found explaining that gap, possibly because of earlier bulk transfers or partial indices beyond the strict statutory floor, but that explanation is not confirmed and should not be assumed.

Correcting an Error

Section 37(1) of the Act, quoted directly from the consolidated text, states: whenever it appears to the satisfaction of the Registrar General that an error has occurred, the Registrar General shall make the necessary correction, without obliteration of the original entry. In practice, the route is to contact Vital Statistics at 506-453-2385 or vitalstatistics@snb.ca, the same contact point used for all New Brunswick vital-statistics matters.

For New Brunswick's neighbors, see vital records in Nova Scotia, vital records in Prince Edward Island, and vital records in Newfoundland and Labrador.

For the national overview and every other province’s guide, see the Canada vital records hub.

Disclaimer: This article explains New Brunswick's general process for ordering vital records for informational purposes only. It is not legal advice and cannot guarantee a specific fee, processing time, or outcome. Fees and procedures are set by the province and can change. Confirm current details with New Brunswick's Vital Statistics Unit before applying.

Frequently Asked Questions

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

$40 if you order online, or $45 if you order in person or by mail, for any of the three certificate types. A marriage licence costs $115.

How long does it take to get a New Brunswick vital records certificate?

New Brunswick does not publish a standard processing time on any of its official birth, death, or marriage certificate pages. That figure is genuinely absent from the province's own pages, so no timeline should be assumed.

Who can order a death certificate in New Brunswick?

Anyone with a relationship to the deceased, as long as they can supply a valid reason, correct identifying information such as the deceased's name and date and place of death, and the fee. This is looser than the relationship-restricted long form some neighboring provinces use.

Do I need written consent to apply for someone else's certificate in New Brunswick?

Generally yes, faxed or mailed in with the application before issuance. The one exception is a parent applying for their own child's certificate, which does not require separate written consent as long as the child is under 19.

How far back do New Brunswick's genealogy records go?

The free Provincial Archives database covers 1800 to 1975, with over 1.16 million records available. A separate paid genealogy search through Vital Statistics covers records from 1888 forward for a fee, and events before 1888 require a microfilm interlibrary loan request through the Provincial Archives.

How do I correct an error on a New Brunswick vital record?

Section 37(1) of the Vital Statistics Act directs the Registrar General to correct an error once satisfied one occurred, without obliterating the original entry. Contact Vital Statistics at 506-453-2385 or vitalstatistics@snb.ca to start the process.