§50. Issuance of death certificates; duties of state registrar

            A. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the funeral director or other person required by law to initiate a death certificate shall initiate such certificate in original only, and shall file the original with a local registrar. The local registrar of each parish shall retain this original in his office for a period of ten days from the date the certificate is filed.

            B. If no certified copy has been issued or if all certified copies issued have been returned and destroyed by him, a local registrar, upon receipt of documentary evidence or affidavit of the original informant, may make corrections on these certificates during this ten-day period, provided that no changes or corrections may be made as to the time of death or cause of death.

            C. A local registrar may issue certified copies of any death certificate during the ten-day period it is retained by him, and the certification of the local registrar shall have the same legal effect as certification by the state registrar, as otherwise provided by law. The local registrar shall forward each death certificate to the state registrar on the tenth day after the certificate is filed with him. Each month the state registrar shall notify each parish registrar of voters as to the name, address, and age of each resident of that parish over eighteen years of age for whom a death certificate has been received.

            D. After preparation by the funeral director or other person required by law to initiate a death certificate and issuance from the local registrar, the state registrar shall provide the official death certificate to any applicant who meets the requirements of R.S. 40:41 within ten business days after the state registrar has received the applicant's request for the death certificate. The state registrar's provision of the death certificate to the applicant shall be deemed timely when it has been mailed via the United States Postal Service, or with a commercial mail service, with a timely commercial mail meter stamp or commercial mail service certificate that is within the ten-business-day period. Any death certificate provided to an applicant outside of the ten business days that is unable to be meter-stamped for United States Postal Service mail delivery or certified for commercial mail service delivery during the ten-business-day period due to events outside of the state registrar's control shall be considered timely provided.

            Acts 1979, No. 776, §1; Acts 1986, No. 876, §1; Acts 2022, No. 134, §1; Acts 2022, No. 271, §4.