Reviewed by Carlos Vargas, Texas Licensed Funeral Director (TFSC #119648) ·
List what waits for what, not a calendar
Families are often given a long list of tasks with no indication of which ones can move today. This organizer does not tell you what is required. It arranges the steps you have already been told about by one question: what does this step wait for? A step that waits for nothing unfinished can be worked on. A step that waits for an unfinished one cannot, however urgent it feels.
There are no dates anywhere in the tool. Offices, consulates and carriers set their own pace, and nobody can promise it from a web page. What you can control is making sure nothing sits idle because someone assumed it had to wait.
Build your list of steps
Write one step per row in general words, with no personal details. Choose “Not sure yet” when nobody has confirmed what a step depends on.
Step 1
The controls require JavaScript. You can use the groups described below to sort your own list on paper.
Texas records that other steps wait for
Some steps cannot start until a Texas record exists. The Texas DSHS Death Registration Handbook, revised January 2026, says the funeral director files a report of death with the local registrar within 24 hours of assuming custody, and that report authorizes transport within Texas. If a body will be removed from the state, moved by common carrier or cremated, the funeral director must obtain a Burial-Transit Permit. The registrar does not issue that permit until a death certificate “completed in so far as possible” has been presented.
The same handbook gives the funeral director ten days after the death to file the certificate, and gives the medical certifier five days after receiving it to complete the medical portion or explain the delay. Those are legal filing limits for professionals, not a forecast for your situation. In the worksheet, a row such as “certified copies received” can wait for “death certificate filed,” while the permit is its own row. Ask the funeral home which of these records already exist.
Authentication and translation follow the record they attach to
An authentication is attached to a record that already exists. The Texas Secretary of State describes its universal Apostille as a certificate attached to your public records; it works as an apostille for Apostille Convention countries and as an authentication for other countries. Its FAQ lists death certificates among those public records. An authentication row therefore normally waits for the certified copy it will be attached to.
Translation can be one more link in the chain. The same FAQ says that if a document needs to be translated, a notary will need to witness the translator sign the translation. For Mexico, the DSHS handbook says a Burial-Transit Permit, a certified copy of the death certificate and an Apostille are generally required, and that the certificate and Apostille may need to be translated into Spanish. Whether your recipient wants a translation, and of which pages, is a question for that recipient. Record it as a dependency only after you ask.
Destination requirements decide the rest of the order
For countries other than Mexico, the DSHS handbook tells funeral directors to check with that country’s consulate for specific requirements, and repeats that a Burial-Transit Permit must be obtained whenever the body is removed from Texas. It adds that if a letter of non-communicable disease is needed, the local registrar’s office can help obtain it from the local health authority. None of that tells you what one particular consulate, airline or receiving funeral home will ask for.
That is why the example list includes a row for confirming destination requirements, and why every example row starts as “Not sure yet.” Add a row for each item the consulate, the carrier and the receiving funeral home actually name, then choose what each one waits for. Our documents guide explains the common document names.
Read the sorted list
Select Sort list to group your steps. The tool reads only your entries: each step name, its status and up to two things it waits for. It has no information about offices, flights or case files.
| Group | What put a step there |
|---|---|
| Can be worked on now | Not done, and everything it waits for is marked done, or it waits for nothing you know of |
| Waiting for an earlier step | At least one step it waits for is not done; the list names that step |
| Order not confirmed | You chose “Not sure yet,” or it points to a row with no name |
| Steps that wait for each other | Two or more steps form a loop; recheck what you were told |
| Done | You marked the step done |
A step marked “waiting on someone else” keeps that label beside it in whichever group its dependencies place it, so you can see whom to follow up with. The list never shows a duration, a deadline or an expected date.
Keep the list current
Use Add step for anything new you are told, up to 15 steps. Each step can wait for two others; if it waits for more, name the combined prerequisite as its own row. Any edit clears the previous result, so sort again before copying or downloading. Clearing the page does not remove a file you already saved.
The organizer script does not transmit your entries or write them to browser storage. Other services on this site follow their own privacy terms. Use general step names and leave out a person’s name, certificate numbers, medical details and payment information. The list does not contact an office or book anything.
Questions about ordering the steps
- Does the sorted list tell me how long repatriation will take?
- No. It contains no durations or dates. It only separates steps that can move now from steps that wait for something you entered.
- Who decides the real order of the steps?
- The responsible offices do. The funeral director files the Texas records; the consulate, carrier and receiving funeral home set their own requirements. The tool arranges your notes about them.
- What should I do with a step listed under “Order not confirmed”?
- Ask the office responsible for that step what must exist before it can start, then choose that step in the list and sort again.
