ROVER Registration and Support

Oklahoma Statutes 63 §1-321 g. “If within sixty (60) days of the initial issuance of a certificate of death, a funeral director, or a person acting as such, requests a correction to any portion of the death record except the information relating to the medical certification portion, due to a scrivener's error, misspelling or other correction of information, the Commissioner of Health, through the State Registrar of Vital Statistics, shall amend the record, provided said request is made in writing or through an electronic system and is accompanied by documentation disclosing the correct information or by a sworn statement of the funeral director. The funeral director, or person acting as such, shall be responsible for any and all amendment fees that may be imposed by the Commissioner of Health for said correction. Up to ten certified copies containing the erroneous original information may be exchanged for certified copies containing the corrected information at no additional cost.”

Effective date: Nov 1, 2019

Effective November 1, 2019, a funeral director may apply for a correction to a death record issued by the Oklahoma Vital Records Office within 60 days of the original issuance with documentation or through a sworn statement. The standard amendment fee of $20 is required and up to 10 previously issued certified copies may be exchanged at no charge.  We recommend submitting the supporting documentation to avoid inadvertent errors.

Please submit your Request for Correction to the Oklahoma Vital Records Office using the attached form or one that is substantively similar. Any ommission in required information may delay the amendment process.

HB1912 was introduced in February 2017 to simplify Oklahoma disinterment law (O.S.S. Title 63 Section 1-319) to make it work better for funeral directors, cemeteries and most importantly families who wanted to or needed to have a disinterment performed. The changes to the law became effective Nov 1, 2017.

The amendments that were made to the law addressed two major areas – Notification and Scope.

Notification: The law as it was amended in 2013 required proof of notice to the owner of the interment lot and to the surviving adult children. This has now been simplified to consent of the next of kin only. The appropriate next of kin must be determined based on the priority established in O.S.S Title 21 Section 1158 in the following order:

• Representative appointed by decedent
• Surviving spouse
• Sole surviving adult child (or majority of surviving adult children)
• Surviving parent(s) of the decedent
• Surviving sibling (or majority of surviving adult siblings)
• Guardian of decedent
• Persons in the next degree of kinship for estate distribution
• Public office of state
• Funeral director with custody of the body

Scope: Previously all disinterment permits were required to be applied for with the State Registrar regardless of the final interment site. This process has now been split into 1) a Notice of Disinterment/Re-Interment and 2) Request for Disinterment Permit.

If the body is being disinterred/re-interred within the same cemetery, complete only the NOTICE. The Notice does not require the State Registrar’s signature prior to disinterment, but the Notice MUST be submitted to the State Registrar within 5 days of the disinterment.

If you are taking the body out of the cemetery or disinterring it for cremation, complete only the REQUEST. The Request process unchanged other than adopting the simplified next-of-kin consent language. This must be submitted and signed by the State Registrar before disinterment begins.

• Disinterment/Re-interment, Removal and In-state Transit Application and Permit
  

NOTE: The form is one page, but contains both the NOTICE and the PERMIT. You only need to complete one of them – not both.  Brief instructions are provided at the top of the form.