NEWS / Nebraska to start issuing death certificate abstracts for pending investigations

The Nebraska Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) will now issue death certificate abstracts for deaths occurring after July 19, 2024, according to NTV ABC. The new option applies only to deaths associated with a pending investigation. A full death certificate will be issued for deaths not linked to any pending investigations.

The new abstracts will provided all the data found on a death certificate except for information related to cause of death.

The new regulation will allow families to initiate probate, close bank accounts, and transfer motor vehicle titles without waiting for the full death certificate. Many Nebraskans had been forced to wait months for the results of investigations into the deaths of their loved ones just to initiate these necessary processes. This grueling wait will now be a thing of the past.

Some requests, particularly those related to insurance policies and some other processes, will still require a full death certificate listing cause of death.