Who keeps an original
Life insurance claims, bank and brokerage accounts, pension and annuity administrators, vehicle title transfers, real property transfers, and the probate court each typically require a certified copy they will not give back. Each of those is one certificate gone. Count the accounts, not the institutions — two accounts at one bank can mean two certificates.
Who will take a photocopy
Utilities, subscription services, employers, landlords, credit-card issuers closing an account, and most membership organisations will accept a plain copy or a scan. The Social Security Administration is usually notified directly by the funeral provider and does not need a copy from you.
A workable number
Six to twelve covers most estates. A person with a house, a vehicle, two bank accounts, a pension and a life policy is comfortably at eight before anything unusual appears. If the estate is genuinely simple — no property, no vehicle, one account — four or five may be enough.
Ordering more at the outset is cheaper per copy than ordering again later, because the second order carries its own processing and often a second trip to the county.
Where they come from
Certified copies are issued by the local registrar or the state vital statistics office, not by the funeral provider. A provider will normally order them on your behalf as part of the arrangement and pass the fee through. That fee is set by the government, so the only thing worth comparing between providers is whether they add anything on top.