In the United States, death records are considered public domain and are available to most people related to the deceased. There are, however, areas that restrict the death information for personal reasons. Like any other vital records, only a selected few will be given access to the death records. This select few includes immediate family, a power of attorney and extended family. As is the case with any other situation where you need to gain access to a legal document, in order to obtain death records, you need to prove your identity by bringing two forms of photo ID as well as other state-specified documents. When you’re requesting a birth record and do not know some information about the deceased, some states allow you to pay an extra fee to gain legal access, but this is not the case with death records. The government will not hand out your deceased loved one’s information to every random person. They take their jobs very seriously and you’ll only gain access to the death records with proper identification.