A Texas death certificate (Form VS-112) contains roughly 50 fields covering the deceased person’s identity and background, the place and time of death, the medical cause and manner of death, injury circumstances when they apply, what happened to the body, and the professionals who signed off on the record. If you’re wondering what information is on a death certificate in Texas, the short answer is that the form combines a biographical record, a medical record, and a disposition record on a single document, and each section matters for a different downstream task like probate, insurance, or benefits.
Identity and Personal Background
The top of the certificate establishes who died. It records the full legal name along with any aliases, sex, date of birth, age at death, and birthplace down to the city and state or foreign country. The Social Security number appears here too, which federal agencies rely on when they close out records.
Marital status is captured in set categories: married, divorced, never married, widowed, or unknown. If the person was married, the surviving spouse is named, and for a surviving wife the form asks for her name before her first marriage. Both parents are listed, and the mother’s entry also asks for her name before her first marriage. These details help confirm identity and matter later for inheritance questions.
The certificate records the deceased’s full residence: street address, apartment number, city, county, state, zip code, and whether the address sat inside city limits.
Place and Time of Death
A separate block pins down where and when the person died. It lists the county, city, zip code, and the name of the facility if death occurred at a hospital, nursing home, or hospice. If death happened somewhere else, the street address goes in instead. The form distinguishes inpatient, emergency room or outpatient, dead on arrival, nursing home, the person’s own home, hospice facility, and other locations.
Both the date and the exact time of death are entered. When the precise moment isn’t known, the time is marked “presumed” rather than “actual.” That distinction can affect inheritance order and insurance when two family members die close in time.
Cause and Manner of Death
The medical certification section is the part insurers and attorneys read most closely. It has two parts. Part I lists the chain of events leading to death, from the immediate cause back through each contributing condition to the underlying cause. Part II captures other significant conditions that contributed but weren’t part of that direct chain. Someone might die of cardiac arrest (immediate) due to coronary artery disease (underlying), with diabetes listed in Part II.
The certificate then classifies the manner of death. Texas uses six categories: natural, accident, homicide, suicide, pending investigation, and could not be determined.1Texas Justice Court Training Center. Completing Death Certificates “Pending investigation” is used when the certifier needs more than five days to decide, which often happens while toxicology results are outstanding. A homicide classification doesn’t automatically mean a crime occurred; a lawful act of self-defense is still recorded as homicide on the certificate.
Two more medical questions appear in this section. The form asks whether tobacco use contributed to the death, and for female decedents it asks about pregnancy status at or near the time of death. The certificate also records whether an autopsy was performed and whether those findings were available when the cause of death was determined.
Injury Information for Non-Natural Deaths
When anything other than natural disease appears as the cause, a block of injury-specific fields activates. These capture the date and time of the injury (which can differ from the date of death by days or weeks), whether the injury was work-related, and the type of place where it happened, such as a construction site, a home, or a wooded area.2Texas Department of State Health Services. Handbook on Death Registration
The full address of the injury site is recorded separately from the place of death. A field labeled “describe how injury occurred” asks for a brief plain-language explanation like “fell off ladder while painting house” or “car/truck collision.” If a transportation accident was involved, the certificate notes whether the deceased was a driver, passenger, pedestrian, or in another role.
Disposition of the Body, Informant, and Funeral Director
The certificate documents what happened to the body. The method of disposition field offers burial, cremation, entombment, removal from the state, donation, or other. The name and location of the cemetery, crematory, or other final resting place are recorded along with the city and state.
An informant section names the person who supplied the deceased’s biographical information, their relationship to the deceased, and their mailing address. This is usually a spouse, parent, or adult child.
The funeral director (or the person acting in that role) signs the certificate and lists their license number, the name of the funeral facility, and the facility’s complete address. The person in charge of burial or removal is legally responsible for filing the completed certificate with the local registrar no later than ten days after the death.3Justia. Texas Code Health and Safety Code 193 – Death Records
Who Signs as Medical Certifier
The certifier is the professional who vouches for the medical facts. In Texas, that is the attending physician, a medical examiner, or a justice of the peace.4Texas Department of State Health Services. Medical Certifiers A physician assistant or advanced practice registered nurse can also complete the medical certification, but only when the patient was receiving hospice or palliative care.3Justia. Texas Code Health and Safety Code 193 – Death Records
The certifier has five days from receiving the certificate to finish the medical portion. Their printed name, signature, title, license number, address, and the date of certification all appear on the form. When a death occurs without medical attendance or in circumstances that trigger a criminal investigation, the case shifts to a justice of the peace or medical examiner, who takes over the certification.
Statistical and Demographic Fields
The bottom of the certificate captures information used mostly for public health research: highest level of education completed, Hispanic origin, race, and usual occupation along with the kind of business or industry where the person worked. The occupation field asks for the type of work the person did during most of their working life, not just the last job, and it specifically instructs certifiers not to write “retired.”
Two questions on the Texas form stand out. The certificate asks whether the deceased ever served in the U.S. Armed Forces, which affects veteran burial and benefit eligibility. It also asks whether the person ever served as a peace officer in Texas.
Who Can See the Record
Texas death records aren’t fully public right away. For deaths within the past 25 years, only immediate family members can order a certified copy. Other requesters need to show a direct, tangible legal interest, such as a court order or an insurance policy naming them as beneficiary.5Texas Department of State Health Services. Death Record FAQs After 25 years, the record becomes public.6Texas.Public Law. Texas Government Code 552.115 – Exception: Confidentiality of Birth and Death Records
If Something on the Certificate Is Wrong
A misspelled name, a wrong date of birth, or an incorrect Social Security number can create real problems when you try to settle an estate or file an insurance claim. Texas handles corrections through the Vital Statistics Section at DSHS using Form VS-172.7Texas Department of State Health Services. Death Certificate Correction Application You complete and sign the application, have your signature notarized, and attach a copy of your photo ID along with supporting documents. The application must be an original; photocopies, cross-outs, and write-overs aren’t accepted. Regular processing runs six to eight weeks, and expedited service runs 20 to 25 business days. The correction fee is $15, the first certified corrected copy is $20, each additional copy is $3, and expedited processing adds $5 per application.
If the manner of death is still listed as “pending investigation” because toxicology or other work is outstanding, the certificate is still a valid legal document. Families can use it to arrange burial or cremation and begin probate while they wait. Once the medical examiner’s office closes the investigation, the record is amended and updated certified copies can be ordered through DSHS, arriving in roughly two to four weeks.