How To Apostille Texas
Death Certificates
(Click or pinch to enlarge graphic)
We only need three things from you to complete the expedited Texas apostille death certificate service process.
First, mail us or drop off an original Texas death certificate at our office. The death certificate you submit to us cannot be a photocopy or a notarized copy and you
cannot fax or email us a copy of a death certificate to apostille or authenticate.
The Texas Secretary of State will only accept and issue apostille certificates and authentication certificates on original Texas death certificates that are physically presented to them not copies.
When we say an “original death certificate” this means you have an original Texas death certificate that was issued at the time (year) of the persons death or a certified copy of a death certificate that you can order and obtain from either Texas Vital Statistics (also called Texas Vital Records) or from the Texas county clerk’s office of where the official death record was first recorded at.
And yes, you can have Texas Vital Statistics or the Texas county of where the person died at mail us the death certificate directly to rush apostille. You just have to email us the prepaid return FedEx or UPS label and our order form within 24 hours after ordering a new death certificate from the state or county office.
Do not send or drop off to us a Texas death certificate to apostille or authenticate if it was issued before 1980. Your Texas death certificate must be issued after 1980.
If not, you must order a new certified copy of your death certificate from Texas Vital Records or from the Texas county of where the person died (ordering at the county level is by far the fastest way and what we recommend) because the Texas Secretary of State won’t be able to find that old of death record in their state records database.
If your state certified copy or original Texas death certificate was issued between 1980-1999 you have roughly a 50/50 chance that it will be rejected by the Texas Secretary of State because they won’t be able to find that old of death record in their state records database.
With that said we’ve successfully apostilled and authenticated many Texas death certificates issued from the 1980’s and 1990’s that the Texas Secretary of State found so we’ll happily attempt to file your Texas death certificate that was issued during these years.
But please be aware if the Texas Secretary of State does reject your Texas death certificate we will email you a copy and mail you the original rejection letter that the Texas Secretary of State issues on all rejected documents.
You will then have to order a new certified death certificate copy and pay us our full apostille service fee a second time to reattempt to apostille or authenticate your Texas death certificate for the second time.
The death certificate cannot be issued from another state or country and it must be issued from the State of Texas.
If a death certificate was issued from another U.S state other than Texas you can only receive an apostille certification or authentication certification on a U.S death certificate or any other type of recordable document (birth certificates, marriage licenses or marriage certificates, divorce decrees or divorce certificates) from the state in which the document originated and was issued from.
For example, if a person died in the State of California but they legally resided in Texas you can only obtain an apostille certificate or authentication certificate on a California death certificate from the California Secretary of State. The exact same scenario applies to all recordable legal documents and the 49 U.S states.
Apostille Texas only apostilles death certificates at the state government level for the State of Texas but if the country you’re sending your documents to is not a member nation of the 1961 Hague Convention you will need to go through two more legal document filing steps. We can assist you with these two steps even if we don’t obtain the state level authentication for you from a non-Texas state.
The second step is to rush file your death certificate at the United States Department of State (USDOS) office in
Washington D.C but this step can only be done after you have been issued a state level authentication certificate by one of the fifty state secretary of state offices in the United States.
The third step is to rush file your death certificate with the foreign country embassy of where your documents are being submitted to in Washington D.C. This final document legalization step can only be done after you have been issued both a state and federal authentication certification on a U.S death certificate.
Second email, mail, or drop off at our office a prepaid FedEx or UPS return shipping label (we do not accept air waybills) that you can create and purchase online at FedEx.com or UPS.com without needing to create or have an existing account set up with them. You can also visit any UPS Store or FedEx Office location to purchase a prepaid shipping label as well.
Do not use the United States Postal Service (USPS) because they lose things constantly
(potentially your death certificate) and are completely unreliable and slow.
The reason we require a prepaid return shipping label is so we can mail your documents back to you or to wherever and whomever in the world that you want your documents shipped to.
On the prepaid return FedEx or UPS shipping label that you must provide us please list the senders (from) mailing address as your name/address or any U.S address because you cannot list our company name or address as the from/sender for liability reasons. Then for the receiver’s address (to) just list the name/address of where and who you want your documents mailed back to.
Click on the below links for easy step-by-step screenshot directions on how to create a prepaid return FedEx or UPS shipping label online in only a few minutes.
If you want your documents shipped back to you or to someone else internationally (USA to another foreign country) please also provide us with a customs invoice (see the two links below to download and sign the custom prefilled out for you templates) that shipping companies (FedEx, UPS) will normally require you to include whenever you ship documents internationally to certain countries.
If you or someone on your behalf will be returning to our office the following business day to pick up your apostilled or authenticated documents you of course won’t need to provide us with a prepaid return shipping label.
For the fastest possible return time, we can hand deliver your documents right to your home, office, business or hotel anywhere in Texas the very same day that we apostilled or authenticated them for an additional courier fee.
The courier cost will depend on what city and zip code in Texas you need us to travel to. This is for situations where you don’t have the time to travel back to our office to pick up your documents or you don’t want your documents mailed anywhere for some reason.
Third, you will need to download, sign, and email, mail, or drop off at our office our rush Texas apostille service order form that can be instantly downloaded by clicking on the Texas apostille order form button below.
We cannot accept or process your documents by mail, email, or drop off until we receive a properly completed apostille order form from you.
If you will be dropping your documents off at our office in person you must bring this completed Texas apostille order form in with you along with any documents that you want us to rush apostille or authenticate for you or for your company.
When you arrive at our office walk up to our front lobby receptionist desk area and tell them that you have some documents to dropoff for Apostille Texas. Detailed directions and pictures of our office and office building are on our contact us page as well for you to view.
Please also understand your documents will not and cannot be apostilled or authenticated onsite at our office so this isn’t walk-in service.
The only legal and government entity in Texas that can issue apostille and authentication certificates is the Texas Secretary of State office which is where we will rush file your Texas death certificate at on your behalf.
We must receive your Texas death certificate by mail or dropped off at our office by noon CST Monday-Friday (excluding all bank and government holidays) to be able to provide you with same day Texas apostille services. If we receive your Texas death certificate after that cutoff time don’t worry we’ll simply attempt to file it on the next business day.
Lastly, we do not have these Texas apostille order forms available at our front desk receptionist area.
So if you choose to drop your documents off at our office please make sure to print out and bring this Texas apostille order form in with you or alternatively you can email us the completed Texas apostille order form ahead of time.
Texas Apostille &
Authentication
Services Pricing
All Texas Secretary of State government filing fees are included in the $95 price.
Money back guarantee if we don’t attempt to file your documents in the stated time.
Your documents couriered to any shipping center (return shipping costs not included).
Document filing status updates by email or text.
We’re based in Austin, TX, so no middleman for you to go through.
Phone and email support seven days a week.
Additional documents filed at the same time only $75 each.
Same Business Day
Apostille Service
All Texas Secretary of State government filing fees are included in the $95 price.
Money back guarantee if we don’t attempt to file your documents in the stated time.
Your documents couriered to any shipping center (return shipping costs not included).
Document filing status updates by email or text.
We’re based in Austin, TX, so no middleman for you to go through.
Phone and email support seven days a week.
Additional documents filed at the same time only $75 each.
