Do you get my certified copies for me?

Every agency in the sequence wants an original or a certified copy, and a photocopy is refused everywhere. A certified copy is issued by the office holding the original record and carries a raised seal or a colored stamp — something a photocopier cannot reproduce.

Where they come from genuinely differs by state, and it is one of the few parts of a name change that does. Your kit names the office that applies to your document and your state, links to where the request goes, and tells you what the request needs.

• Order more than one. Several agencies want to see a copy and they do not all return it quickly.
• Extra copies in the same request almost always cost less than a second request later.
• Order from the state where the event was filed, not the state you live in now. The record sits where it was created.
• Do not laminate one. Lamination defeats the seal check and several states refuse a laminated copy outright.

If your copies have not arrived yet, that is not a reason to wait — you can build the whole kit while they are in the mail.