Death certificate

After a death, there's a lot to take care of: a funeral and the estate need to be organized, and contracts for the apartment, phone line, and various insurance policies need to be canceled. Usually, the person requesting this must submit an official document confirming the death to the registry office, the probate court, or insurance companies. However, if the death occurred abroad, problems can arise: the relevant authorities may not understand the content of the original document or they may not accept a simple translation. To avoid this, you can order a professional translation of all documents relating to the deceased directly from us – online, without a complicated application process, and with certification.

A translation of a death certificate is rarely needed. It is often necessary when a family member dies while abroad. In such cases, the death certificate is usually issued in the official language of the country where the person died. However, the necessary formalities for the bereaved, such as canceling contracts, must be handled in the deceased's home country. There, registry offices, probate courts, and insurance companies typically only accept certified translations of death certificates issued abroad.

Generally, certain requirements must be met when dealing with a death certificate from abroad – just as with a marriage certificate, passport, or will: the accurate reproduction of the content, translation by sworn translators, and certification of the translation with a signature and stamp. In addition, there is a special consideration: foreign death certificates may contain important handwritten notes that, like the printed text, must be translated for the certificate to be recognized, for example, by a German registry office or other German authorities.

To be on the safe side, we recommend checking with the relevant authority beforehand whether a certified or a simple translation is required. And if a certified translation is necessary, you can count on our support: We translate and certify death certificates from English, French, and other languages into German, and from German into many different languages.

Organizing a funeral and dealing with the necessary paperwork is difficult shortly after the death of a loved one. We want to support you as best we can. Official translations of foreign documents are generally accepted without question by registry offices, authorities, and probate courts, ensuring smooth processing. To guarantee this, our service is certified three times according to ISO standards: for our translation services (ISO 17100:2015), our quality management (ISO 9001:2015), and our information security (ISO/IEC 27001:2013).