Title 16, Health and Safety

§ 3105. State Registrar of Vital Statistics; duties [Effective until Dec. 6, 2026]. (a) The Director of the Division of Public Health of the Department of Health and Social Services shall be the State Registrar and shall: (1) Direct and supervise the system of vital statistics an…

§ 3106. Employment of personnel and acquisition of equipment. The Division of Public Health shall provide the Office of Vital Statistics with sufficient staff, suitable offices and other resources for the proper administration of the system of vital statistics and for the preserv…

§ 3107. Reproduction of vital records; official seal for certification. (a) To preserve vital records, the State Registrar is authorized to prepare typewritten, photographic, electronic or other reproductions of certificates or reports in the Office of Vital Statistics. Such repr…

§ 3108. Form of certificates and reports. (a) In order to promote and maintain nationwide uniformity in the system of vital statistics, the forms of certificates and reports required by this chapter, or by regulations adopted hereunder, shall include as a minimum the items recomm…

§ 3109. Completion of certificates and reports. (a) Those individuals and/or institutions responsible for completion of certificates or reports according to this chapter or regulations adopted hereunder shall complete all items on the forms provided by the State Registrar. The St…

§ 3110. Disclosure of records. (a) To protect the integrity of vital records, to ensure their proper use and to ensure the efficient and proper administration of the system of vital statistics, the records and files of the Office of Vital Statistics shall be considered confidenti…

§ 3111. Penalties. (a) A fine of not more than $10,000, or imprisonment of not more than 5 years, or both, shall be imposed on: (1) Any individual who wilfully and knowingly makes any false statement in a certificate, record or report required by this chapter, or in an applicatio…

§ 3112. Immunity. No employee of the Office of Vital Statistics or other state offices established or designated under § 3105(b) of this title shall be subject to, and such persons shall be immune from any claim, suit, liability or damages or any other recourse, civil or criminal…

§ 3121. Registration of births [Effective until Dec. 6, 2026]. (a) A certificate of birth for each live birth which occurs in this State shall be filed with the Office of Vital Statistics, or as otherwise directed by the State Registrar, within 10 days after such birth and shall …

§ 3121A. Certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth. (a) The State Registrar of Vital Statistics shall issue a certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth upon the request of and payment of a fee by either parent of the stillborn child or any other individual with a direct int…

§ 3122. Infants of unknown parentage; foundling registration. (a) When the State assumes the custody of a live born infant of unknown parentage, an officer of the Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families shall report on a form and in a manner prescribed by th…

§ 3123. Registration of death [For application of this section, see 85 Del. Laws, c. 253, § 23] [Effective until fulfillment of the contingency in 85 Del. Laws, c. 459, § 4]. (a) A certificate of death for each death which occurs in this State shall be filed with the Office of Vi…

§ 3124. Registration of spontaneous fetal death. Each spontaneous fetal death of 350 grams or more, or in the absence of weight, of 20 completed weeks of gestation or more, calculated from the date the last normal menstrual period began to the date of delivery, which occurs in th…

§ 3125. Registration of marriage. (a) A record of each marriage performed in this State shall be filed with the Office of Vital Statistics and shall be registered if it has been completed and filed in accordance with this section. (b) The official who issues the marriage license …

§ 3126. Registration of adoptions; duty of clerk of court; old and new birth certificates. (a) Upon the issuance of a final decree of adoption or of an order certifying the validity of a foreign adoption, the clerk of the court in which the decree of adoption was made, or filed i…

§ 3127. Acknowledgment or establishment of paternity [Effective until Dec. 6, 2026]. In cases of acknowledgment or establishment of paternity, the State Registrar, upon receipt of a court order, an administrative order or a properly executed acknowledgment of paternity, executed …

§ 3128. Divorce or annulment registration for statistical purposes. (a) A record of each divorce or annulment granted by the Family Court in this State shall be filed by that court with the Office of Vital Statistics and shall be registered if it has been completed and filed in a…

§ 3129. Registration of birth, death, marriage, divorce or fetal death where registration neglected or omitted. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, the State Registrar, on the production of evidence satisfactory to the State Registrar relative to a birth, death,…

§ 3130. Certificates as evidence. Certificates filed within 6 months after the time prescribed therefor shall be prima facie evidence of the facts therein stated. Data therein pertaining to the father of the child are prima facie evidence only if the alleged father is the husband…

§ 3131. Delayed or amended certificates; procedures; evidence. (a) A person born in this State may file or amend a certificate of birth after the time prescribed by this chapter upon submitting such evidence relative to the circumstances surrounding the birth as may be required b…

§ 3132. Fee for issuance of certificates and searches. (a) The State Registrar shall receive a fee not to exceed $25 for each certified or noncertified copy of a certificate or record, or for a search of the files or records when no copy is made, or for a copy or information prov…

§ 3133. Reports of induced termination of pregnancy. Each induced termination of pregnancy which occurs in this State, regardless of the length of gestation, shall be reported to the Delaware Health Statistics Center within the Division of Public Health by the person in charge or…

§ 3151. Permit for removal, burial or other disposition; foreign permits; prerequisites for permit [For application of this section, see 84 Del. Laws, c. 261, § 16]. When a death or a fetal death occurs or a dead body is found, the body may not be disposed of until the burial or …

§ 3152. Burial/transit permits for shipment of corpses — Required. No common carrier shall receive for shipment from any point within this State to any other point either within or without this State any dead human body, unless the funeral director or person acting as such presen…

§ 3153. Disinterment — Rules and regulations. No body or stillborn fetus shall be disinterred within the State except upon a permit granted by the State Registrar of Vital Statistics. The forms of disinterment permits shall be prepared by the Office of Vital Statistics. Disinterm…

§ 3154. Authorization for disinterment and reinterment. (a) Authorization. — A permit for disinterment and reinterment of a dead body or fetus shall be issued by the State Registrar upon receipt of a notarized application/authorization signed by the next-of-kin and the person who…

§ 3155. Permits for disinterment of bodies buried in Kent or Sussex County before January 1, 1893. The State Registrar of Vital Statistics through the central office or any of the county vital statistics offices, upon application to and the payment of the usual fee to any or eith…

§ 3156. Disinterment from condemned land. The Department shall modify and relax its regulations and restrictions relative to the disinterring and reinterring of dead bodies, including the securing of separate disinterment and transfer permits of the bodies in those cases where th…

§ 3157. Cremation or natural organic reduction; prohibited except in licensed crematory or natural organic reduction facility [For application of this section, see 84 Del. Laws, c. 261, § 16]. A person may not destroy or dispose of by burning or natural organic reduction the body…

§ 3158. Crematory or natural organic reduction facility; approval for construction; requirements; inspection [For application of this section, see 84 Del. Laws, c. 261, § 16]. (a) A person, firm, organization, or association desiring to acquire, erect, or construct a crematory or…

§ 3159. Permit for cremation or natural organic reduction; issuance, retention, and inspection [For application of this section, see 84 Del. Laws, c. 261, § 16]. (a) A body may be cremated or subjected to natural organic reduction only after the preparation of a special cremation…

§ 3160. Report of cremation or natural organic reduction [For application of this section, see 84 Del. Laws, c. 261, § 16]. Within 24 hours after the cremation or natural organic reduction is completed a report indicating the name of the individual, the individual’s address while…

§ 3161. Delivery, transportation, and disposal of final remains [For application of this section, see 84 Del. Laws, c. 261, § 16]. The final remains resulting from the cremation or natural organic reduction of a body may be delivered by the attendants of the crematory or natural …

§ 3162. Witnesses at cremation or natural organic reduction [For application of this section, see 84 Del. Laws, c. 261, § 16]. A representative of the family or some individual accredited to act as representative of the family of the individual being cremated or subjected to natu…

§ 3163. Permit where death occurs in this State and cremation or natural organic reduction takes place elsewhere [For application of this section, see 84 Del. Laws, c. 261, § 16]. The provisions of § 3159 of this title, requiring the signature of the chief medical examiner or an …

§ 3164. Cremation or natural organic reduction in this State when death occurred elsewhere [For application of this section, see 84 Del. Laws, c. 261, § 16]. The cremation or natural organic reduction in this State of the body of an individual who has died in another state is per…

§ 3165. Analysis of material samples for natural organic reduction [For application of this section, see 84 Del. Laws, c. 261, § 16]. A natural organic reduction facility shall be responsible for: (1) Ensuring that the natural organic reduction vessel maintains a minimum temperat…