Polish Death Certificate Translation
Polish death certificate translation to English for a widow or widower petition, a US probate court, a life insurer, a bank or a Social Security survivor claim, and from English into Polish for a Polish estate or a ZUS pension. We translate the odpis skrócony and odpis zupełny aktu zgonu and the karta zgonu behind them.
- Up to 250 words per page
- $25 per page
- Standard turnaround
- From 24 hours
- Certificate of accuracy
- Signed & stamped
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Written for Polish death certificate records
Karta zgonu, akt zgonu, and which one the recipient wants
A death in Poland produces a medical card and a civil act, and the one a US reader needs depends on what they are checking.
Karta zgonu and odpis aktu zgonu
The karta zgonu is the form the doctor fills in, with the cause of death in medical terms and a part for the statistical office. The family takes it to the USC, which draws up the akt zgonu and issues the odpis. A probate court, an insurer, Social Security and USCIS want the odpis; the karta zgonu matters only when someone needs the cause of death, since the odpis does not state it. We translate either and title each one in English so they cannot be confused.
What the odpis records about the person
The odpis gives the deceased's names, surname and nazwisko rodowe, date and place of birth, date, hour and place of death, stan cywilny and the surname and nazwisko rodowe of the spouse, the parents' names, and the PESEL number. The spouse line is what tells USCIS that an earlier marriage ended by death, and the odpis zupełny adds who reported the death. We translate each line as printed and spell out stan cywilny as married, widowed or divorced, as the act has it.
Estates and survivor pensions in Poland
The reverse direction is common. When a relative dies in the United States and owns property in Poland, the heirs need the US death certificate in Polish for a sąd rejonowy ruling on stwierdzenie nabycia spadku or for a notary issuing an akt poświadczenia dziedziczenia. A widow claiming a renta rodzinna from ZUS needs it too. Under the US-Poland social security agreement the two offices exchange records, but the certificate itself still travels with a translation.
Who is asking for your Polish death certificate translation?
The translation is the same. What changes is whether the recipient wants anything added to it.
USCIS
USCIS asks for a complete English translation and a signed certification from the translator. No notarization is needed.
Insurers and Social Security
Life insurance and survivor benefit claims accept a certified translation. Add the medical certificate if the claim turns on the cause of death.
Courts and consulates abroad
A probate court or a consulate handling a repatriation or an estate usually wants the original apostilled and the translation certified or notarized.
Before you upload
Three things that save a day of back and forth on a Polish death certificate.
Send the civil record, not only the medical form
The registry act is the document recipients ask for. Add the doctor's certificate as a second file if an insurer or a court wants the cause of death.
Include the reverse and the stamps
Issue stamps, the registrar's signature and folio numbers often sit on the back or at the edge. Photograph both sides flat with the whole page in frame.
Give us the names as they appear elsewhere
Tell us the English spelling of the deceased and of the spouse or parents named on the record, so the translation matches the petition, policy or probate file it joins.
Details and pricing
What is included in a Polish death certificate translation
One price per page covers the translation and its certification. A page is up to 250 words, and the quote tells you the page count before you pay.
Everything on the death certificate is translated, including stamps, seals and handwritten notes. Tell us the English spelling you use for each name when you order.
Certified Translation
Word-for-word translation with a certificate of accuracy for official use.
$25
USD / page
up to 250 words per page
Included
- Signed & stamped certification of translation accuracy
- Certified by a professional translator
- Digital delivery via PDF
- Review and approve final translation
- 100% Guaranteed Acceptance
- Standard turnaround starting at 24 hours
Optional services
- Expedited turnaround
- Priority handling when your deadline is shorter than the standard turnaround.
- By deadline
- Notarization
- A notary public signs and stamps the certification statement.
- $20 per order
- Physical copy
- A wet-ink original of your translation, mailed by express courier.
- $35 per order
- Apostille
- Authenticates the notary’s signature and seal for use in Hague Convention countries.
- $180 per document
What the certificate of accuracy states
Your translation arrives with a Certification of Translation Accuracy issued by ImmiTranslate. It is the page the receiving organization checks first.
- The translation is complete and accurate.
- The document title and the language pair.
- The translator is competent in both languages.
- A signature and the ImmiTranslate certification stamp.
- Our American Translators Association corporate membership.
Our translation process
Our goal is to make the translation process as simple as possible for you. Our service is streamlined specifically for documents of this nature.
Polish Death Certificate FAQ
Most questions about pricing and turnaround can be answered faster by requesting a quote.
- Does the Polish odpis prove to USCIS that my previous marriage ended?
- Yes. The odpis aktu zgonu names the spouse and the stan cywilny of the person who died, so a translated odpis of your late husband's or wife's act closes the earlier marriage for a new spouse petition. A copy issued recently is fine; the act shows the date of death and the date of registration separately, and the translation keeps both.
- My relative died in Poland decades ago. Can I still get a copy to translate?
- Yes. Death acts stay in the USC for 80 years and then go to the state archive, so a death from the 1950s is still with the USC and one from the 1930s is in the archiwum państwowe for that region. Acts drawn up before 2015 are added to the central register when someone asks for a copy. An older odpis may be typed on the pre-2015 form or copied by hand from the register; we translate both and mark anything illegible.
- My relative disappeared during the war and there is no akt zgonu. What exists instead?
- A court ruling. When no death was registered, a sąd rejonowy can issue a postanowienie o uznaniu za zmarłego, declaring the person dead as of a date the court sets, or o stwierdzeniu zgonu where the death is certain but unrecorded. The USC then draws up an akt zgonu from the ruling, and the odpis notes that basis. For an inheritance claim or a citizenship file we translate the court ruling and the odpis together so the dates match.
- How much does a certified translation cost?
- Certified translation is $25 per page, with a page counted as up to 250 words. Notarization, a mailed physical copy and an apostille are optional and priced separately.
- How long does a certified translation take?
- Standard turnaround starts at 24 hours and depends on the length and language of your documents. If you have a deadline, include it in your quote request.
Other Polish documents we translate
Death certificate translation in other languages
Each of these pages is written for that language's death certificate records.
Sending it with an application? Read the Inheritance claim translations, Insurance claim translations before you order.