How to Apostille a Death Certificate

We provide fast Apostille service for Death Certificates issued from all 50 U.S. States including Death Certificates issued by the Secretary of the District of Columbia. Because of the unique requirements of each State, we recommend that you mail to our office the original or a certified copy issued by The State Registrar or local County Clerk. In some States the certificate will be issued from the Health Department.

Some States require Death Certificates to be issued within the past 12 months. For example, if you need a Virginia Apostille, the certificate must be within the past 12 months . If the Death Certificate is lost, damaged, or older than what the State will accept, we recommend that you order a new certified copy by visiting VitalChek.com

A Death Certificate is generally requested when the family requests to settle the estate of the deceased in another country.  If the requesting country is a member of the Hague Apostille Convention, you will be required to provide a Death Certificate with an Apostille. The Apostille helps authenticate the document for acceptance in the other country.

Death Certificates issued by a State must be authenticated from the same State. For example, if the person passed away in the State of California, the California Death Certificate will need to be Apostilled from the California Secretary of State. There is no exception to this rule.

If the country requesting the Death Certificate is not a member of the Hague Apostille Convention, then the documents may require further authentication through the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. and legalization through the Embassy / Consulate office. Our Staff in D.C. can handle your Department of State and legalization requests quickly.

Apostilles can be complicated. Don’t leave this process to untrained employees or non-professionals who do not fully understand the Apostille process and the unique requirements of certain countries. Your paperwork could be rejected costing you time and money. Don’t let this happen to you!

Please click on the map below to view the processing time and cost for each U.S. State. Please Contact Us with any questions you may have.

We can process documents from all 50 U.S. States including the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., the Secretary of the District of Columbia (D.C.), and select Consulate / Embassy offices in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, CA.

*Excluding Saturday, Sunday, Major Holidays, and International Delivery.
There is an additional shipping fee for international delivery. Thank you.