How a Florida death certificate is used in Argentina
When someone with property or bank accounts in Argentina dies in Florida, the heirs open a sucesión before an Argentine court, and the judge needs the apostilled Florida death certificate with a traductor público translation. A bank, a pension office and the property registry may each keep a copy, so order several certified copies from the Bureau of Vital Statistics at once and apostille each one you'll file. The certificate must be signed by the State Registrar. A funeral home's working copy, or a certification from before 2014, can't be apostilled.
Translation for Argentina
Our general rule is a translation certified by the translator, notarized by a separate notary and apostilled in Florida, but Argentina instead requires an in-country professional for official filings. Under Law 20.305, foreign-language documents filed with Argentine authorities need a Spanish translation by a registered traductor público, and Migraciones and the Buenos Aires Registro Civil also want the Colegio de Traductores to legalize the translator's signature. Get the Florida apostille first so the traductor público translates the apostille page too.
What your Florida death certificate must look like
Only a certified copy from the Florida Bureau of Vital Statistics or a county health department can be apostilled: it carries the State Registrar's signature that the Department of State verifies. Funeral-home copies, photocopies and scans are rejected, and copies certified before 2014 must be replaced with a fresh certified copy (order through VitalChek or the county health department). If the receiving office needs the cause of death, ask for the version that includes it — both versions can be apostilled.
Step by step: death certificate apostille for Argentina
- Order online — pick "Death certificate" and "Argentina" on the order form; $220 per document, $380 for two, $160 each for three or more.
- Send a photo — reply to the confirmation email with a picture of the document. We check the certification before anything ships, so a defect is caught before it costs you a round trip.
- Drop it at FedEx — after approval, FedEx emails you a prepaid QR code; show it at any FedEx Office or Ship Center, no printer or label needed.
- Filed in person in Tallahassee — we walk the document into the Florida Department of State and ship the apostilled original back by FedEx within 5–7 business days of receipt — to your U.S. address, or to Argentina with international return shipping (+$100).
One Florida apostille is all the U.S. side needs for Argentina. Whatever the office there asks for after that — a translation, a filing deadline — is covered above.