That is the length of time it took from the Basha’s death until I had a valid and correct Mexican death certificate for him. But it is done! A lot of time and money for something that should have taken only a week. (Mexican law says the death certificate has to be issued within a week of the death.)
There were small problems, one after the other, but each one blew up into a tempest (in a teapot!). The first was a language/clerical error. Our marriage license was in English. The person at the funeral home didn’t understand what it was. They registered him as a single person.
This should be an easy fix, but no. Once it is registered at Registro Civil, it is practically law. I finally got all of our papers officially translated and certified and submitted them. All seems in order to get the error fixed, and get the certificate. (This is a big deal because if he was listed as single, I have no legal rights to his property, our bank account, and there would be problems with the trust for our house.) This was March 2025.
When all the papers were submitted the legal office noticed that his birth certificate had his full middle name written out but our marriage license only had a middle initial. ¡These may not be the same person!
I hired a lawyer and a fixer. We got a letter from the US Consul in Mexico saying that, after their due diligence, they certify that these are the same person. That was in October 2025.
Much bureaucracy, too many officials on multiple vacations, a lot more money than I’d been quoted when I hired the lawyer and fixer (I think there were “honorariums” paid), and almost a year from the Consular letter.
But all of that is water under the bridge now. I have the official death certificate and can begin to work through the Mexican financial ramifications of his death. ¿Yea?