Reviewed by Carlos Vargas, Texas Licensed Funeral Director (TFSC #119648) ·
Translation rules belong to whoever receives the document
A Texas death certificate is issued in English. Whether it must be translated, by whom, and whether the translation needs its own stamp are decided by the office that will receive it: usually a consulate, a civil registry abroad, a cemetery or a receiving funeral home. Two offices in the same country can answer differently.
Families lose days by translating too early, translating the wrong pages or using a translator the recipient does not accept. This organizer lists the questions to settle before paying anyone. It does not translate, certify or recommend a translator.
Settle these before you order a translation
Each line names who can answer it. Add a short note with the office and date.
The controls require JavaScript. You can print this page and mark the list by hand.
What Texas can and cannot certify
The Texas Secretary of State’s authentication FAQ says that if a document needs to be translated, a notary will need to witness the translator sign the translation. The state is then authenticating a notarial act on the translator’s statement, not checking the translation. Under the Apostille Convention, an apostille certifies the authenticity of a signature, the capacity in which the signer acted and, where appropriate, the seal or stamp; it says nothing about whether the content of a document or its translation is correct.
The same FAQ lists death certificates among the public records the Secretary of State can authenticate, so the certificate and a notarized translation are handled as two separate documents, each with its own certificate if the recipient wants both. A notarized and apostilled translation therefore proves who signed it, and nothing more. Whether that satisfies the recipient is the recipient’s decision. Some require a sworn or officially registered translator in their own country, which no Texas stamp replaces. Ask before you order.
What the destination may ask for
The Texas DSHS Death Registration Handbook, revised January 2026, gives Mexico as an example: a Burial-Transit Permit, a certified copy of the death certificate and an Apostille are generally required, and the funeral director may need to have the death certificate and the Apostille translated into Spanish. For other countries the handbook simply directs funeral directors to the consulate for specific requirements.
Notice that in that example the apostille itself is among the pages to translate, which means translation comes after authentication. Other recipients may want the translation bound to the original first. The order matters, so record it, and use our order of operations organizer to place the step.
How to use the three marks
Every line starts as “To ask.” Change it when the recipient, the translator or the notary has answered.
| Mark | Meaning |
|---|---|
| To ask | The responsible office has not answered yet |
| Confirmed by me | You have the answer and noted who gave it |
| Does not apply | The recipient told you no translation or no stamp is needed for that line |
Take the built list to the translator so the quote covers the right pages, language and format.
Keep the organizer current
Build the list again when an answer changes; any edit clears the previous result. The organizer script does not transmit your entries or write them to browser storage, and other services on this site follow their own privacy terms. Notes should name offices and dates. Do not type the text of a document, the name of the person who died or any identity number.
Questions about translating repatriation documents
- Does an apostille prove that a translation is accurate?
- No. An apostille certifies a signature, the signer’s capacity and a seal or stamp. It does not review the content of a document or its translation.
- Can a bilingual relative translate the death certificate?
- Only the receiving office can say. Some accept any competent translator with a notarized statement; others require a sworn or registered translator.
- Should the documents be translated before or after authentication?
- Ask the recipient. In the example the DSHS handbook gives, the apostille is among the pages that may need translating, so translation follows authentication there.
