How a Florida death certificate is used in Portugal
When a Portuguese citizen or someone with property in Portugal dies in Florida, the heirs usually need the death recorded in the Portuguese civil registry and a habilitação de herdeiros, the formal declaration of who the heirs are, made at a notary or through the IRN's Balcão das Heranças. The heirs also report the estate to the Portuguese tax authority for stamp duty. Each step needs the Florida death certificate, signed by the State Registrar and apostilled. Order several certified copies at once, since banks and registries keep their own.
Translation for Portugal
Our general rule is a translation certified by the translator, notarized by a separate notary and apostilled in Florida, but for Portugal you often need no translation at all. Civil registries can waive it for English, French or Spanish documents when the official knows the language (book ahead), and IRN nationality forms and DGES do the same. When Portugal does require one, the IRN expects it certified in Portugal by a notary, registry officer, lawyer, solicitador or recognized chamber of commerce, or by a Portuguese consulate in the issuing country.
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 Portugal
- Order online — pick "Death certificate" and "Portugal" 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 Portugal with international return shipping (+$100).
One Florida apostille is all the U.S. side needs for Portugal. Whatever the office there asks for after that — a translation, a filing deadline — is covered above.