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Certified Spanish Death Certificate Translation

eVerbary translates your Spanish death certificate into English for $24.95 per page with no word cap, by a professional human translator, with a signed certification. Most orders are delivered within a few hours. Accepted by USCIS and by US universities, colleges and schools, or your money back.

From the doctor's certificate to the registry entry

A death in Spain cannot be registered without the doctor's medical certificate of death (certificado médico de defunción). On that basis the Civil Registry records the death, and the entry is proof of the fact, the date, the time and the place. The registry then issues the licence for burial or cremation. What families receive, and what US offices ask for, is the registry's certification of the death entry (certificación de defunción), literal or extract.

The Civil Registry Law keeps the data collected for statistics, and any indication of a violent death, out of the registry entry; those remain on the medical certificate. If an insurer or a court needs medical detail, the registry certificate may therefore not be the document that carries it. Where no body was found, the death is entered on the strength of a court or court-clerk decision instead, and that decision is worth translating too.

Wills and the estate

To settle an estate in Spain, heirs obtain a certificate from the Ministry of Justice's General Register of Last Wills (certificado de actos de última voluntad), which states whether the deceased made a will and before which notary. It cannot be requested until fifteen working days after the death. A US probate court may ask for it together with the will, which in Spain is often a notarial deed.

We translate each document separately and keep names, dates and registry references identical across them. A death certificate also proves that a marriage ended; see the Spanish marriage certificate page, the Spanish property deed page if the estate includes real estate in Spain, and the power of attorney page if someone there acts for the heirs. We do not need the originals: clear scans or photos of each page are enough.

What USCIS requires

Under 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3), a foreign-language document must be accompanied by a complete English translation and the translator's certification that it is accurate. Every seal, stamp and marginal note is part of the document, so every one is translated.

State agencies set their own rules — see government agencies — and what our certification states is on this page.

How it works

Upload a photo or a scan of your document, pick the language pair and check out online. You never have to mail originals: a legible copy is all we need.

A professional human translator, never machine translation, translates the document word for word and mirrors the layout of the original. Every certified translation ships with a signed Certificate of Translation Accuracy that meets the requirements of USCIS, courts and universities.

Your translation is delivered digitally, usually within 24 hours for documents of one to three pages, and same-day delivery is available. If anything needs adjusting, we revise it.

Certified vs. standard translation

A certified translation is a word-for-word translation accompanied by a signed statement attesting to its accuracy and completeness. It is what official bodies require: USCIS, courts, universities and government agencies. Certified translations are $24.95 per page, where one sheet of your document is one page, with no word cap.

A standard translation is the same professional human translation without the certificate, for when you only need to understand the content or for internal or informal use. It is billed at the same $24.95 per page with no word cap.

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