The access to public records in Massachusetts are relatively easy to locate and there are many websites dedicated to providing the information on Massachusetts death records for free or for a subscription fee. Ancestry.com provides Massachusetts death Record Indexes from 1970 through 2003 for the cost of the subscription fee of their website. Other places to locate death record information include the FamilySearch.org website which provides death record information for free but is still being tested and may occasionally contain errors. The information currently available runs from 1906 to 1915 but is working on adding the years 1841 to 1915 to their free online database. The Family History Library includes microfilm Death Indexes and Records from 1630 through 1955.
These microfilm rolls can be ordered for viewing for a small fee from any local LDS Family History Center. If your need for a particular Massachusetts Death Record requires a Certified copy then there is only one place you can obtain them from. The Registry of Vital Records and Statistics, a part of the Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) provides the only legal copies of such vital records as births, marriages, and deaths running from 1916 to the present and divorce records from 1952 to the present. Vital statistic records from 1841 to 1915 are available from the State Archives and before this time must be obtained from the town or city where the event occurred. The Vital Statistics Office has a research area for free viewing of the archives.
To obtain certified copies of any of their records, be it birth, marriage, or death records requires an $18.00 fee, which does include a ten-year search if the exact date of death is not known. When ordering certified copies via the Internet, you must pay through the online processor VitalCheck Network and the fee is $45.00. You must also go through VitalCheck Network if ordering by phone and the price is still $45.00 for the first document and $37.00 for additional copies of the record. A mail request is $28.00 and will require 20-30 days turnaround time to process the order.