Texas
Death
Certificate
Texas Death Certificate
When you need to request a Texas Vital Records search and order records locally quickly an official certified copy of a Texas death certificate from the Vital Statistics Division of the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) let Birth Certificate Texas assist you today.
Please note you can only order a certified Texas death certificate replacement and do a Texas vital protected records database search on a Texas death record if the death happened within the last twenty five years. Instructions on ordering death certificates online in Texas which is a protected record.
To be eligible to order Texas death certificates all Texas residents must be an immediate family member of the deceased:
- Child
- Parent
- Brother or Sister
- Grandparent
- Spouse
To be eligible to order a Texas death certificate copy all non-Texas residents must be:
- The surviving spouse of the deceased;
- The parent of the deceased; or
- The funeral director of the funeral home on record.
Texas death certificate frontside.
(Click or pinch to enlarge graphic)
Step 1:
Download & Notarize
Authorization Form
Download, fill out, and get this one-page Texas death certificate authorization form PDF notarized. Once you get this State of Texas authorized form properly signed and notarized by a notary scan and email it back to us.
You can use a licensed public notary in any of the fifty U.S states (not just a Texas notary) to notarize this required Texas death certificate authorization form. But you cannot use a foreign countries (non-USA) notary public official to notarize this form.
Below is the number one error people make when they don’t follow our detailed instructions on how to fill out the state authorization form that must be notarized. You must leave the (name of designated person) field blank.
MEN & WOMEN: If you make an error and you don’t put the legal MAIDEN middle name of your mother (leave blank if your mother has no legal middle name) in spot #16 and legal MAIDEN name of your mother in spot #17 on the authorization form the state will reject your application.
You will then forfeit the $195 you paid us for rush filing your Texas death certificate application request. You will have to pay us a second payment of $195 to reattempt to rush file another application on your behalf once you email us a corrected, signed, and notarized authorization form.
MEN & WOMEN: If you make an error and you don’t put the legal MAIDEN middle name of your mother (leave blank if your mother has no legal middle name) in spot #16 and legal MAIDEN name of your mother in spot #17 on the authorization form the state will reject your application.
You will then forfeit the $195 you paid us for rush filing your Texas death certificate application request. You will have to pay us a second payment of $195 to reattempt to rush file another application on your behalf once you email us a corrected, signed, and notarized authorization form.
If you’re a U.S citizen who is now living abroad and needs to request a Texas death certificate. You must get this required Texas death certificate authorized form signed and stamped by the U.S embassy or at a U.S consulate office in the country that you currently reside in before you can email it to us to rush file with the Texas Vital Statistics office in Austin, TX.
The fastest service processing times to get this extra international filing step done varies from country to country.
Step 2:
Scan & Email
Government ID Copy
Scan and email us a valid (can’t be expired) clear photocopy of one of these documents: U.S driver’s license, U.S passport, U.S state identification card, U.S military ID card or a U.S permanent resident card (green card).
Your ID photocopy needs to be the front side only (top and bottom pages if you’re using a U.S passport) and the scanned photocopy can be in B/W or color. Do not have anything else on the page that has your ID copy on it. Meaning your ID copy must be on it’s own separate scanned sheet of paper.
If you don’t have access to a scanner at your home, work, or apartment complex you can download a free scanner app to your Android or Apple smartphone device. Use it to take a photo of your government issued identification and the app will turn the photo into a PDF which you can then email to us. Also, any FedEx Office, UPS Store, Staples, or OfficeMax can do document scanning for like a dollar or two for you.
This is important because when we physically present your identification copy to the Texas Vital Records office when we rush file your Texas death certificate application paperwork they can reject your application if they feel your ID photocopy is not readable or to blurry.
Step 3:
Download Death
Certificate Order Form
Download, fill out, and email us back this expedited Texas death certificate order form PDF.
We need to know how many official certified death certificate copies that you want. Most people order one or two death certificate certified copies at the same time.
Step 4:
Purchase Prepaid
Return Shipping Label
Visit www.FedEx.com or www.UPS.com to create and purchase a prepaid return shipping label.
Download the label that is created which will be in a PDF format and then email the PDF shipping label to us so we can print it out and use it to mail all your documents back to you.
Don’t worry if you have never created a prepaid shipping label before because you don’t need to create a FedEx or UPS account and it only takes a few minutes. Just click on the FedEx or UPS FAQ links below to be walked through step by step on how to create and purchase a shipping label online.
Once Birth Certificate Texas receives all four of the above required documents from you via email we’ll reply back to confirm receipt of your documents. If we see any potential issues or obvious errors made by you with your documentation we’ll let you know right away.
We highly recommend you email us the signed and notarized Designation To Obtain a Vital Record before you mail it to us so we can make sure you filled it out properly.
This way you can rescan and send us clearer ID and authorization form copies (the most common issue) or worse case you’ll need to go get the authorization form re-notarized because we caught an error on it that you or the notary public made that would result in the application being rejected by the State of Texas.
On the prepaid return FedEx or UPS shipping label that you must provide us list the senders mailing address (from) as your companies address and then for the receivers address (to) just list the address of where and who you want your documents mailed back to.
Emails You Can
Expect From Us
You’ll receive one of two second emails from Birth Certificate Texas after the first confirmation of receiving your documentation email.
The first email you’ll receive from Birth Certificate Texas is a congratulatory email stating that we’ve successfully retrieved an official certified Texas death certificate from the Texas Vital Statistics office for you and we’ve dropped your documents off at the courier (FedEx, UPS) that you chose to ship with.
We’ll also attach a photo of your new Texas death certificate before we mail it back to you as instant verification proof to put your mind at ease. You’ll receive a second email from Birth Certificate Texas if any issues arise when we hand filed your Texas death certificate application with the State of Texas.
Issues such as no Texas death records were found on the person listed on the application when Texas Vital Records did its initial database search or a possible Texas death certificate application form mistake was made by you which resulted in the state not being able to run a proper search for your Texas death records.
Most Common
Mistakes People Make
Some of the most common mistakes that people make when they’re filling out the Texas death certificate authorization form are they spell their own name wrong (we kid you not, this happens), the name of the deceased listed on the Texas death record or one of the parent’s names.
People also put down the wrong city and county of where they think they deceased died in Texas, they put down the wrong death date, they check the wrong box where it asks what is your relationship to the person whose name is listed on the Texas death certificate that you’re requesting or they wrongly write in a name in the one field on the form where it must be left blank (we state on the form to leave it blank).
If the Texas Vital Records office can’t find a Texas death record for you that we hand file your Texas death certificate application (this only happens about twenty percent of the time in our experience) it will then be automatically forwarded off to what Texas Vital Statistics calls the “Search” or “Search Team” department.
Texas Vital Records will then give us a photocopy of the signed application form that we filled out and submitted to them on your behalf along with the written notes they put on the application form in the upper right hand corner. Birth Certificate Texas will then forward that application form copy onto you via email.
This is the proof that we did in fact file your Texas death certificate application with the State of Texas and we filed it properly in the time frame that you paid us to do it.
When The State Can’t
Find Your Vital Record
The Texas Vital Records Search Team will do an extensive deep database search to see what errors might have been made on your Texas death application request (the information that you gave us) or the birth record does not list a hospital on it (this is required by federal law to get or renew a U.S passport).
Texas Vital Statistics will search all 254 Texas county databases (not just the one county that you listed on your application form) to hopefully find an official Texas death record.
It will take the Texas Vital Statistics Search Team a minimum of 10-15 business days (37 business days was the longest time we’ve ever seen them take which was an extreme outlier) to locate and let us know if they found a Texas death record.
If no record is found this would mean the government of Texas has no official recording of that person (the deceased person listed on the application) ever dying legally in the State of Texas.
If you don’t have Adobe Reader (this allows you to open and fill out PDF’s) installed on your desktop or laptop computer you can download it here for free.
If you don’t have Adobe Reader (this allows you to open and fill out PDF’s) installed on your Android or Apple smartphone or tablet you can download it here for free.
Ordering Death
Certificates Online Cost
48-72 Hour
Birth Records Service
Texas death verification letters and birth, marriage, and divorce verification letters.
All Texas government filing fees included in the price.
Money back guarantee if we don’t file your application within the time frame you pay for.
Courier of all your documents to any shipping center (return shipping costs not included).
Application status updates by email or text.
We’re based in Austin, TX, so no middleman for you to go through.
American phone and email support five days a week.
We’ll email you a photo of your documents before we mail them back to you.
48-72 Hour
Death Records Service
Texas death certificates, birth certificates, and birth, death, marriage, & divorce verification letters.
All Texas government filing fees included in the price.
Money back guarantee if we don’t file your application within the time frame you pay for.
Courier of all your documents to any shipping center (return shipping costs not included).
Application status updates by email or text.
We’re based in Austin, TX, so no middleman for you to go through.
American phone and email support five days a week.
We email you a photo of your documents before we mail them back to you.
*To order additional Texas death certificates the cost is $125 per copy if ordered at the same time.
Acceptable Forms
Of Identification
From the State of Texas Vital Statistics main website these are the only acceptable forms of identification (see the detailed list below) that you can scan and email us that we can physically present to the Texas Department of State Health Services office to be able to obtain an official raised seal Texas death certificate certified copy on your behalf. Identification is required to establish proof of identity of the person that is requesting a protected Texas Vital Records search.
Acceptable identification must contain the applicant’s full legal name and photograph, and you must provide to the State of Texas one of the following:
- One item from Group A
- Two items from Group B, or
- One item from Group B and two items from Group C.
Group A: Primary Identification
All identification requirement items must be current and valid (meaning they cannot be expired) and contain the applicant’s name and photograph that establishes the applicant’s identity.
Must Provide One:
- United States issued driver’s license (any U.S state)
- Federal or state identification card (any U.S state)
- United States passport
- U.S military uniformed services identification card
- U.S concealed handgun license identification card (any U.S state)
- U.S pilot’s license identification card (any U.S state)
- Federal, state or city law enforcement employment identification card, or employment badge accompanied by employment identification card
- Offender identification card issued by the Department of Criminal Justice correctional facility or institution
- Department of Homeland Security, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued:
- Employment Authorization Document (EAD)
- Permanent Resident Card – front and back (Green Card)
- Travel Documents
- Re-entry permit
- Refugee travel permit
- Advance parole
- SENTRI card
- U.S. citizen identification card
- United States Department of State issued:
- Border crossing card (B1 for business or pleasure or B2 medical purposes)
- or Visa
Group B: Secondary ID Type
Must provide two items of different types may be used to establish proof of identity. These forms combined must confirm the applicant’s name, signature, or identifiable photo of the applicant.
Must Provide Two:
- Any primary identification that is expired.
- Current student identification
- Signed social security card, or numident
- DD Form 214 Certificate of Release
- Medicaid or Medicare card
- Veterans Affairs card (VA)
- Medical insurance card
- Foreign passport accompanied by a Visa issued by the United States Department of State (USDOS).
- Foreign passport in accordance with the United States Department of State, Visa Waiver Program.
- Certified death certificate from the Department of State (FS-240, DS-1350 or FS-545)
- Private company employment identification card.
- Form I-94 accompanied by the applicant’s Visa or Passport.
- Mexican voter registration card.
- Foreign Identification with identifiable photo of applicant
- MatrÍcula Consular is not accepted as any form of identification
Group C: Supporting ID’s
Items of different types may be used to establish proof of identity. Two of these forms combined with one from Group B must confirm the applicant’s name, signature, or identifiable photo of the applicant.
Must Provide Two Combined With One From Group B:
- Expired secondary identification from Group B.
- Recent utility bill with current address.
- Recent paycheck stub.
- Public assistance applications or letters.
- Signed valid voter’s registration card.
- Police report of stolen identification.
- Official school transcript.
- Bank account statement.
- Social security letter.
- Marriage license.
- Divorce decree.
- Certified death certificate from Department of State (FS-240, DS-1350, or FS-545), or from another state other than Texas or other country.
- Automobile insurance card.
- Lease agreement.
- Loan or installment payment contract.
- Promissory notes or loan contracts.
- Court order.
- Property titles or liens.
- Automobile titles.
- Library card.
- Fishing or hunting license.
- Recent medical records or bills.
- Auto registration.
- Religious records with signature of religious official.
- Recent rent receipt with address and name.
- Recent cell phone bill or contract.
- Federal, state, or local tax records.
- Department of Homeland Security (DHS) notices or correspondence.
