Are you in need of an apostille for a death certificate? We offer our extended condolences for your loss, and would be happy to assist you with this critical step.
Our professional apostille agents can assist you in obtaining an apostille to be used in another country.
Filing the Death Certificate Apostille
Provide our apostille agent with the actual death certificate or “certificate of death” which was issued by the County Clerk, or Health Department or, depending on state of origin, the State Registrar (Depending on the State State) so that we can quickly and efficiently obtain the apostille for your intended country. We will require the hard copy original document, or the certified copy in order to process the death certificate apostille. This can be hand delivered to us, or mailed to us at our Houston office for fastest service.
Death Certificate Apostille FAQ
Death Certificates, either the original or the certified copy must be provided to our apostille agents in order to process the document. While you can upload a document on our safe and secure portal for review, we can not process copied or uploaded documents.
- We cannot process your apostille without the original or certified copy, and cannot process photo copies
- Death Certificate Apostilles are only provided by their state of origin, for example deaths that occur in Texas will have a State of Texas vital record and that apostille will be authenticated by the State of Texas who will issue the Texas apostille for use in another country. Deaths that occur in Oklahoma, will have a vital record from the State of Oklahoma for a valid Oklahoma Apostille authentication. We provide apostilles for all US States.
- It is important to know when the document was originally issued. Time validity of the vital record is critical in authentications as documents need to be issued not more than 5 years prior to apostille authentication. If your document was issued more than 5 years prior to the date your apostille is needed, then please request a certified copy from the state of origin. Typically apostilles can be issued with the five year validity, but not in all cases. The foreign country requesting the apostille may have additional requirements for the death certificate issuance date, and may require certificates (or their certified copies), to be issued in the more recent months. Verify with the requesting party as to what is acceptable for that circumstance.
- We will process your death certificate for apostille from the state of origin using the appropriate vital records and following the origin state’s authentication procedures for the fastest turn-around possible.
- Expedited services are available for additional shipping costs
What to do if Your Certificate is older than 5 years:
You will need to contact the Vital Records office in the county and state that issued your original certificate to obtain one that is newer. The standard rule is that documents must be issued in the past five years in order to be authenticated, and some countries may have further requirements and required their validity issue date be even more recent. It is best to verify with the requesting party to avoid delays and unnecessary expense. Many of our clients have had success in obtaining certified copies of older certificates by using a service similar to VitalCheck for a rapid turnaround of documents.
Reasons a Death Certificate Apostille may be Required
A foreign country may request an apostille for a death certificate for various banking transactions; for the sale or transfer of real estate interest; in establishing ownership or rights to property in another country; matters of inheritance or spousal death; or for reasons involving child custody in another country.
We can help you no matter where you are located. We provide apostille authentications for all 50 states including the District of Columbia. Our staff is familiar with the handling of death certificate apostille requests and available to help you 7 days a week. Please call us at 713-357-1924