PA19 Form UK: Foreign Death Certificate Probate Guide

At a glance

• What PA19 is: a two-page HMCTS supporting form confirming the accuracy of an English translation of a foreign death certificate, used alongside a probate application.
• When you need it: only where the translation was not produced by a licensed translation company. GOV.UK confirms that a licensed company's own certificate of translation makes PA19 unnecessary.
• Who can use it: GOV.UK states PA19 is for personal applicants (citizens) only — not a professional/practitioner form.
• Online or paper: required as a supporting document either way. The form has a field for your online case reference number if you have already started a digital application.
• What the translator confirms: on the form itself, that they are either a native speaker or a qualified translator, and that the translation is accurate — with a stated warning that contempt of court proceedings can follow deliberately false evidence.
• Documents to send together: the original foreign death certificate, the English translation, and the completed PA19.
• Fee: PA19 has no fee of its own. The standard probate court fee applies to the main application — £300 for estates over £5,000 as at GOV.UK's last published guidance, with an increase to £526 announced from 13 July 2026 (subject to parliamentary approval). Always check GOV.UK's probate fees page before you apply.

What Form PA19 is for

Form PA19 is a supporting form used alongside a probate application in England and Wales where the deceased's death certificate is written in a language other than English, and the English translation has not been produced by a licensed translation company. GOV.UK's own description of the form is direct: use it if you're a personal applicant and you've had a foreign death certificate translated into English and don't have a certificate from a licensed company.

The form exists to bridge a specific evidential gap. The probate registry needs to be satisfied that the person named in the application is the same person recorded as having died on the foreign certificate, and that the English content it is relying on is an accurate rendering of the original. Where a licensed translation company has already produced the translation, their own certificate does that job and PA19 is not needed. Where the translation came from anyone else — a bilingual family member, an independent translator, or another informal route — PA19 supplies the missing verification.

PA19 does not, on its own, get you a grant. It is lodged alongside your main probate application (PA1P where there is a will, PA1A where there is not) and the original foreign certificate and its translation.

Who can use PA19 — and who can't

This is worth being precise about, because it is easy to assume the form is for anyone dealing with a foreign death certificate. GOV.UK's own PA19 form states that it is "to be used by personal applicants (citizens) only" — in other words, individuals applying for probate themselves, not solicitors or other probate practitioners applying on someone else's behalf.

If you are applying as a professional, follow GOV.UK's guidance on applying for probate on paper as a practitioner and use the practitioner versions of PA1P or PA1A. If a foreign, untranslated death certificate arises on a practitioner application, it is worth contacting the Probate Registry or the HMCTS probate helpline to confirm how it should be evidenced, since GOV.UK does not publish a practitioner-specific version of PA19.

What the form actually asks for

The current version of PA19 is a short, two-page form, split into a section for the applicant and a section for the translator. Knowing exactly what it asks avoids a common trap — over-explaining on a form that has very limited fields.

Section for the applicant, you complete:

1. Whether you have already made an application using the online probate service and, if so, your case reference number.
2. The full name of the person who has died, as it appears on the foreign death certificate.
3. The language of the foreign death certificate.
4. The translator's name.
5. The translator's phone number.

Section for the translator to complete:

6. How they are qualified or able to translate the certificate — the form gives two options: that they are a native speaker, or that they are a qualified translator (in which case they state their qualifications).
7. Their signature, confirming the information and translation provided is correct to the best of their knowledge, and that it will be stored as a public record. The form states explicitly that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought if the evidence provided is deliberately untruthful or dishonest.

Note what the form does not ask for: there is no field for the country of death, and no dedicated box for explaining a discrepancy between the name on the foreign certificate and the name used elsewhere in your application. If either of those points needs addressing, do it through the main PA1P or PA1A application and its supporting evidence, not by trying to add extra narrative to PA19.

How to complete and submit PA19

1. Gather the original foreign death certificate. Before touching PA19, make sure you have the original document issued by the relevant foreign authority, or a properly certified copy — not a photocopy or scan.
2. Confirm you actually need this form. If a licensed translation company produced your translation, they should supply their own certificate of translation, and PA19 is not required. PA19 is specifically for translations from anyone else — an individual, a family member, or an unlicensed provider.
3. Complete the applicant section. Fill in whether you've already started an online application (and your case reference number if so), the deceased's full name as it appears on the foreign certificate, the language of the certificate, and the translator's name and phone number.
4. Have the translator complete the second section. They confirm how they are qualified — native speaker or qualified translator — and sign to confirm the translation is accurate. This section must be completed and signed by the translator, not by you unless you are also the translator.
5. Submit PA19 with your probate application. Send the completed PA19 together with the original foreign death certificate, the English translation, and your main probate application form (PA1P or PA1A) and its own supporting documents. GOV.UK confirms PA19 must be sent in as a supporting document regardless of whether you are applying on paper or through the digital probate service. Keep copies of everything you send, since original documents are not always returned quickly.

PA19 and the wider probate application

PA19 never stands alone — it always supports a main probate application, and picking the right main form matters as much as completing PA19 correctly.

• If there is a will, the main application is Form PA1P, which requests a grant of probate for the named executors. Our guide to PA1P walks through that process in full.
• If there is not a will, or the will does not deal with the deceased's UK assets, the main application is Form PA1A, which requests letters of administration. See our guide to Form PA1A for the intestacy route.
• If you first need to check whether a grant has already been issued, or whether a will has been located, that is a different task entirely, covered by Form PA1S — a search form, not an application form.

Whichever main form applies, GOV.UK's guidance on applying for probate sets out the underlying steps: check whether probate is needed, check who is entitled to apply, value the estate and deal with any Inheritance Tax due, and only then apply. PA19 fits into the "apply" step as one of the supporting documents for a case involving a foreign, non-licensed-translated death certificate.

The probate fee — and the announced July 2026 increase

PA19 does not have a fee of its own. The fee that applies is the standard probate application fee, charged on the main PA1P or PA1A application.

As at GOV.UK's currently published probate fees guidance, the position is:

| Estate value | Application fee | |---|---| | £5,000 or less | No fee | | Over £5,000 | £300 |

The Ministry of Justice has separately announced that, from 13 July 2026 and subject to parliamentary approval, the fee for estates above £5,000 was due to rise to £526, alongside changes to the cost of extra copies of the grant. Because fee changes like this can land shortly before or after a page is checked, do not rely on this article for the exact figure — always check GOV.UK's fees page on the day you apply, since the fee payable is the one in force when HMCTS receives your application.

If you cannot afford the fee, GOV.UK's help with court fees service (form EX160) may reduce or waive it depending on your income and benefits.

What happens after you submit

Once PA19 and your main application are with the Probate Registry, the registry reviews the whole application together — the main form, the will (if there is one), the foreign certificate, the translation, and PA19 itself. GOV.UK's general guidance is that you should usually get a grant within around 12 weeks of a complete application, but foreign-certificate cases commonly run longer, because the registry may query the translation, the deceased's domicile, or details on the foreign certificate that don't line up with UK records.

If the registry has a query, it will normally write to you rather than reject the application outright — but responding promptly, with clear supporting evidence, matters for keeping the timeline under control.

Common problems that delay a PA19-supported application

• Using PA19 when it isn't needed. If your translation came from a licensed translation company, submitting their certificate rather than PA19 is the correct route — sending both can create confusion about which document the registry should rely on.
• The translator's section left incomplete or unsigned. PA19 only works with both sections filled in; an applicant who fills in Section 1 but forgets to have the translator complete and sign Section 2 will have an incomplete form.
• A translator who is not genuinely independent of any dispute in the family. The form does not bar family members from translating, but where there is any tension over the estate, an independent translator carries more weight with the registry.
• Name discrepancies left unaddressed. PA19 has no field for explaining why a name on the foreign certificate differs from UK records — that explanation and supporting evidence need to go into the main application, not PA19.
• Sending a photocopy instead of the original foreign certificate, or a translation that does not cover the whole document, including stamps and marginal notes.

Getting it right first time

Because PA19 is short, most of the risk in these applications sits in the surrounding paperwork — the main PA1P or PA1A form, the Inheritance Tax position, and how clearly any name or date discrepancies are explained — rather than in the two pages of PA19 itself. Reading GOV.UK's current guidance for the specific main form you are using, alongside this page, before you send anything is the most reliable way to avoid a query from the registry.

This guide provides general information about Form PA19 and how it fits into a UK probate application. It is not legal advice and is not a substitute for advice tailored to your specific circumstances. The law and guidance described were accurate as at July 2026 and are subject to change — always check GOV.UK and legislation.gov.uk for the most current position, particularly on fees.