Reviewed by Carlos Vargas, Texas Licensed Funeral Director (TFSC #119648) ·
Two funeral homes, one handoff
An international repatriation normally involves a funeral home in Texas that prepares and ships, and a funeral home or family in the destination country that receives. The two may never have worked together, may not share a language and are many time zones apart. Most problems at arrival come from something the receiving side was never told: what is coming, in what container, with which papers, and who in the family is the contact there.
This builder produces a one-page handoff note you can give to both sides. It does not book a flight, choose a receiving funeral home or confirm that anyone has accepted the arrangement. Flight details are left blank for the shipping agent to supply.
Write the handoff note
Business names of funeral homes are fine. Do not type the name of the person who died, document numbers or home addresses.
The controls require JavaScript. You can copy the headings on this page and write the note by hand.
The papers that travel from Texas
The receiving funeral home will ask what documents accompany the person. The Texas DSHS Death Registration Handbook, revised January 2026, says a Burial-Transit Permit must be obtained whenever a body is removed from Texas, describes a certified copy of the death certificate and an Apostille as generally required for Mexico, with a possible Spanish translation, and sends funeral directors to the destination’s consulate for every other country. If a letter of non-communicable disease is needed, the handbook says the local registrar’s office can help obtain it.
Which of those travel with the shipment, and which are sent ahead, is decided by the consulate and the carrier. Write down what the Texas funeral home tells you in each case. The receiving side can then say in advance whether its own authorities will want anything more, instead of discovering it at the airport.
What the carrier’s side adds
IATA’s overview of transporting human remains by air says proper documentation relevant to each party in the supply chain is needed, including an accurately completed Air Waybill with its supporting documentation, that containers must meet the most current guidelines, and that there is no universal international standard for processing and documentation. The air waybill number and the flight are what the receiving funeral home needs in order to collect from the airline’s cargo facility.
Those details exist only once the shipping agent has booked. Until then the note shows blank lines, and nobody should plan a ceremony around them. When the booking is confirmed in writing, add the details by hand or rebuild the note. Our container and weight planner helps describe the container in the units the receiving side uses.
What the finished handoff contains
Select Build text when you have filled in what you can. Blank answers become lines to complete later.
| Part | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Heading and statement | Says the note is the family’s summary and confirms no booking or acceptance |
| Both funeral homes | Business names and cities, so each side knows whom it is working with |
| What is coming | A person for burial or cremated remains, and the container in general words |
| Papers | What travels with the shipment and what is sent separately |
| Blank flight lines and questions | For the shipping agent’s confirmed details, and six questions for the receiving funeral home |
Funeral home business names are public and may be entered. Personal details should not be.
Keep personal details out of the page
Any edit clears the previous text, so build it again after a change. The builder script does not transmit your answers or write them to browser storage; other services on this site follow their own privacy terms. Identify the family contact by relationship and city. Do not type the name of the person who died, document numbers or a home address; the funeral homes exchange those directly.
Questions about the receiving handoff
- Does Vargas-London choose the receiving funeral home?
- This page does not. The family usually chooses someone it trusts at the destination; the note simply records who that is.
- Why are the flight and air waybill lines blank?
- Because they exist only after the shipping agent books and confirms in writing. The tool never invents or estimates them.
- Who should receive this note?
- Both funeral homes and the family contact abroad, so that everyone is reading the same summary.
