How to Notarise a Death Certificate in Australia

A notary can certify a copy of an Australian death certificate for use overseas, but often you do not need one. DFAT can apostille or authenticate the original registry certificate directly. Use a notarised copy when the overseas institution accepts copies or you must keep the original, and expect to send more than the certificate.

Key takeaways

• Only the registry of births, deaths and marriages in the state or territory where the death was registered issues a death certificate. Hospital and funeral papers are not one.
• A "notarised death certificate" is a notarially certified copy. The notary confirms the copy matches the original, not the death or the details recorded.
• Death certificates are on DFAT's list of documents it can legalise, so the original may go to DFAT without a notary.
• Proof of death is half the file. The institution also wants proof that you may act: a grant of probate or letters of administration, or proof of your relationship.
• Foreign forms and declarations usually need your signature witnessed by a notary, so bring them to the same appointment.

Which document is the death certificate?

In the days after a death, families collect paperwork quickly: the doctor's medical certificate of cause of death, papers from the funeral director, sometimes a hospital or nursing home letter. None of these is a death certificate. The funeral director usually lodges the registration of the death with the registry, and once registration is complete the registry issues the death certificate. Only the registry can issue it.

This matters overseas because a foreign bank or pension office will ask for "the death certificate" and mean the registry document. A notary cannot certify a funeral director's statement as a death certificate, and the foreign institution will not treat it as one. If you do not yet hold the registry certificate, order it first.

Registries limit who may order a death certificate, usually to close family, the executor and others who can show a legitimate interest. Each state and territory sets its own eligibility rules and forms, and they differ. If you live overseas, or you are not next of kin, read the registry's rules before assuming you can order one, and consider asking the executor or a family member in Australia to order it for you.

What a notary does with a death certificate

A notary public certifies a copy. The notary sights the original registry certificate, compares it with the copy, and attaches a notarial certificate, signed and sealed, stating that the copy is a true and complete copy of the original. The notary records the act in a permanent register.

What the notary does not do is confirm the death, the cause of death, or any other detail on the certificate. Only the registry stands behind those. A notary also cannot certify a copy made from a scan, a photocopy, or a copy someone else certified: the original must be in front of them.

A notarised copy is useful in two situations. The first is when an overseas institution accepts a certified copy and you want to keep the original for everyone else. The second is when several institutions each want their own certified set, for example a bank, a pension fund and a land registry in the same country.

You may not need a notary at all

Check this before you pay anyone. DFAT's page on the documents it can legalise lists death certificates among the Australian government documents it accepts as originals. For those, DFAT applies an apostille or authentication certificate directly to the registry certificate, confirming the registry official's signature or seal, and no notary is involved.

An apostille is the certificate DFAT issues for countries that belong to the Hague Apostille Convention. It confirms the signature and seal on the document, never the contents. For countries outside the Convention, DFAT issues an authentication certificate and the destination's embassy or consulate in Australia then legalises it. Membership changes, so check the destination on the HCCH status table on the day.

The catch with the direct route is that the original goes overseas and usually stays there. Many families solve this by ordering more than one certificate from the registry: one to send abroad with an apostille, one to keep. DFAT will not accept a certificate that has been laminated, framed or altered in any way, so keep the original flat and unmarked.

When a coroner is involved

Where a death is reported to a coroner, registration may be delayed, or the cause of death may be recorded later, while the coroner's investigation proceeds. Ask the registry what it can issue in the meantime and whether a later certificate will show the cause of death.

Some foreign institutions will not accept a certificate that shows no cause of death; others do not mind. Ask before you pay to legalise a certificate that may later be replaced, because DFAT's certificate attaches to one particular document and does not carry across to a newer one.

Proof of death is only half the file

An overseas institution needs to know two things: that the person has died, and that you are entitled to deal with what they left. The death certificate answers only the first. Depending on your role, expect to be asked for some of these as well:

• The grant of probate or letters of administration, if you are the executor or administrator. It is the document that proves who may act.
• The will, which is often attached to the grant.
• Your birth or marriage certificate, if you claim as a child or spouse and must show the relationship.
• Your passport, as evidence of your own identity.
• The institution's own forms: claim forms, declarations of heirship, indemnities, account closure instructions.

Probate is the court's formal recognition that a will is valid and that the executor named in it may deal with the estate. In Australia it is granted by the Supreme Court of the state or territory concerned. Where there is no valid will, the court may grant letters of administration to an administrator instead. A grant is a court document, which DFAT's list also covers, so a sealed original may be able to go to DFAT directly; confirm with DFAT before lodging.

Whether the overseas country will act on an Australian grant, or needs its own court process, is a question of that country's law. Some countries recognise a grant from another country through their own procedure; others start afresh. How probate works here, and what a foreign court will want, are questions for a solicitor, and often a lawyer in the other country too. A notary's part is narrower: certified copies of the grant and will, and witnessing signatures on foreign forms.

Name differences between documents

Death certificates record names as registered, and they may not match the name on a foreign bank account, pension file or title: a married name against a birth name, a transliterated spelling, a dropped middle name, or a name written in another script abroad. The institution may reject the set even though every document is genuine.

The usual fix is a declaration by the executor or next of kin explaining the difference, made before the notary at the same appointment and supported by the documents that show the link. Ask the institution first whether it has its own form for this, because many do. Powers of attorney and legal declarations explains how declarations are prepared and witnessed.

At the appointment

1. Bring the originals listed above, flat and unlaminated, and current photo identification.
2. Say where each document is going and whether the institution wants an apostille or embassy legalisation, so the notary can word each certificate for its purpose.
3. Leave the forms unsigned. The notary must see you sign. A form signed at home has to be signed again in front of them.
4. Expect questions. Before you sign a declaration the notary will check who you are and make sure you understand it and are signing freely.
5. Use an independent interpreter if you need one, rather than a relative who has an interest in the estate.
6. Then DFAT, and afterwards the embassy for a country outside the Convention.

If the overseas institution wants documents in its own language, it decides whose translation it accepts. For DFAT to legalise a translation made in Australia, it must be by a NAATI certified or recognised translator; see NAATI translation with a notary.

Document	Who issues it	Can it go to DFAT without a notary?
Death certificate	State or territory registry	Usually yes, as an original
Grant of probate or letters of administration	Supreme Court	Often, as a court document; confirm with DFAT
Copy of the will	Private document	No, it needs a notarised copy
Declaration of heirship or claim form	You sign it	No, it must be signed before a notary
Your passport	Australian Passport Office	Usually sent as a notarised copy

Here is an illustration, not a real case

A son in Melbourne is executor of his mother's estate, and she had a savings account in Greece. The Greek bank asks for the death certificate, the grant, and a signed form, all with apostilles. He orders two death certificates from the Victorian registry, keeps one and sends the other to DFAT as an original. His solicitor confirms the sealed grant can also go to DFAT directly. The bank's form, which he had nearly signed at his kitchen table, he takes unsigned to a notary, who witnesses his signature and adds a notarial certificate that DFAT then apostilles. The bank also wants a Greek translation, which it tells him to obtain in Greece.

In short

Order the registry certificate first, and ask the overseas institution whether it wants the original or a copy. If it wants the original, DFAT can usually apostille or authenticate it directly. If it accepts a copy, a notary certifies one and DFAT confirms the notary. Either way, the certificate proves the death, not your right to act, so bring the grant, relationship documents and the institution's forms. If the death happened outside Australia, see documents when someone dies overseas, and for the estate abroad, inheriting an estate overseas.

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