UK Probate with a Spanish Death Certificate: Form PA19 and What the Registry Needs

What the UK Probate Registry Requires

When applying for a Grant of Representation (Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration) using a death that occurred in Spain, the Probate Registry needs:

1. The original Spanish death certificate — specifically the Certificado Literal de Defunción (the complete, verbatim registry copy)
2. A Hague Apostille affixed to the certificate by the Spanish Ministry of Justice
3. A certified English translation of the entire document, including the apostille text

The shorter extract certificate and the multilingual EU-format certificate are not accepted. The literal copy is the only version the Probate Registry recognises for foreign death applications.

Form PA19: When You Need It and When You Don't

Form PA19 (Foreign Death Certificate Translation Form) is required when you, as a personal applicant, submit your own translation of the Spanish death certificate. The form asks you to declare the translator's identity, contact details, and qualifications. It accompanies the original certificate and translation in your probate application.

However, Form PA19 is not required if you use a licensed translation company. The company provides its own certificate of translation on corporate letterhead, verifying the translator's competency, accuracy, and legal credentials. This corporate certificate replaces PA19 entirely.

Practical recommendation: use a licensed company. Their certificate carries more weight with the Registry than a personal-applicant declaration, and it removes one more form from the application pack.

The Translation Must Cover the Apostille

A common rejection trigger: the translation covers the death certificate text but omits the apostille stamp. The Probate Registry requires the entire document, including the apostille's text, to be translated.

This is why the legalisation sequence matters. The apostille must be on the document before the translator sees it. If you commission a translation first and add the apostille later, you'll need a fresh translation that includes both. Details on the correct sequence: Apostille a Spanish Death Certificate for UK Use.

Grants of Representation — Which One?

The type of grant you apply for depends on whether the deceased left a valid UK will:

Grant of Probate — the deceased left a valid will naming an executor. The named executor applies.

Letters of Administration (with will annexed) — the deceased left a will, but no executor is named, or the named executor cannot act. An entitled relative applies.

Letters of Administration — the deceased died intestate (no valid will). The application follows a statutory order of priority: surviving spouse or civil partner first, then children, then parents, then siblings.

If the deceased also held a Spanish will, the two wills must be reviewed together to confirm they don't inadvertently revoke each other. The UK grant covers UK-based assets only; Spanish probate runs as a parallel process through a Spanish notary.

Using the UK Grant in Spain

If the deceased held assets in Spain and you need the UK Grant of Representation recognised by Spanish institutions (banks, notaries, the Land Registry), the grant must go through its own legalisation:

1. Apostilled by the FCDO Legalisation Office (not the Spanish Ministry of Justice — the document is British)
2. Translated into Spanish by a traductor jurado registered with Spain's MAEC

Standard FCDO apostille processing is 10–20 working days by post. Premium business services offer next-day turnaround.

Blank Fields on the Spanish Certificate

If the Spanish certificate has blank fields — time of death recorded as "--:--" or cause of death absent — the Probate Registry may query it. This happens when the death was subject to judicial investigation, and the Civil Registry was legally required to leave those fields empty until the judge released findings.

Supply the literal certificate as-is (blanks and all, apostilled and translated), and include a supplementary document: either the medical death certificate (certificado médico de defunción) or the judicial release order (auto de entrega de restos). A covering letter from a solicitor explaining the Spanish judicial process can also help the Registry's examiners understand why the fields are empty.

The British Person Dies in Spain — Family Emergency Guide includes the complete parallel probate workflow, a document status tracker, and templates for covering letters to the UK Probate Registry.