Talk:New York Vital Records

If you were born in New York, I would highly advise you to request a certified long form birth certificate for yourself. It is next to impossible to acquire one for a parent who is deceased.

At present my sibling has had to hire an attorney to petition the court to acquire our mother's long form birth certificate. Despite the fact that he is an official representative/executor of her estate and has all the necessary proof to show that he is, in fact, her son. Roadblocks are put up in a seemingly merciless fashion to discourage anyone from doing so.

My father was born in Connecticut and his long form birth certificate was very easy to acquire.

Trying to obtain our mother's New York long form birth certificate has been a long, expensive and arduous task. Unless you physically still live in the state of NY, it takes an attorney to unravel the intricasies.

So, especially if you have a relative who is interested in furthering your own research at some future date, request a copy of your long form certificate now and put it in your personal genealogy file. I don't know why New York, and other states I'm sure, make it so difficult while states like Connecticut are very helpful and easy to deal with.