A pensioner has been waiting four years for her deceased son's death certificate in Canada: “They wrote Custel wrong, instead of Costel”
For over four years, a pensioner from Oradea has been fighting to obtain the death certificate of her deceased son in Canada, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs only sent her the wrong documents and did not respond to repeated requests, leaving her stuck in an administrative maze.
Maria Abrudan PHOTO: Ebihoreanul
Maria Abrudan, a 75-year-old pensioner from Oradea, has been living a bureaucratic nightmare for over four years. The woman is trying to obtain the death certificate of her son, Titus Costel Abrudan, who died in 2020 in Canada, in order to start legal succession proceedings.
Although she won a lawsuit against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) that forced the institution to support her, Maria Abrudan has so far only received a document with the wrong first name.
“Now I'm still working, but at some point my strength will leave me. I thought about putting myself in someone's care in exchange for housing, but I can't do notarial acts”the woman confesses, for the Ebihorean.
His son, who had gone to Canada in 2000, was doing legal work in the town of Wainwright, Alberta. In the spring of 2020, the employer informed Maria Abrudan that Titus Costel had died at the age of 50. The funeral was organized by the employer, and the mother of the deceased received a “death declaration” released by Wainwright Funeral Home.
“I have not been able to travel to Canada for the funeral or to obtain the death certificate due to pandemic travel restrictions and limited financial means,” he wrote. Maria Abrudan in several requests sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, starting from September 2021
Due to travel restrictions and limited financial resources, Maria Abrudan was unable to obtain the death certificate directly from Canada.
According to the cited publication, starting in September 2021, the woman, through her lawyer, requested the Consular Directorate of the MFA for support in obtaining the official document.
However, the answers received were deficient and contradictory. In January 2022, the Consular Directorate recommended that he request the online certificate personally or through a lawyer, for a fee, although Romanian law explicitly states that consular services are obliged to obtain civil status certificates from abroad for Romanian citizens.
The Ministry allegedly procrastinated and unnecessarily complicated the procedure, asking for unjustified additional documents and giving unclear instructions regarding the registration of the certificate in Romania.
In July 2022, the woman opened a case at the Bihor Court against the MAE. The court rejected the Ministry's arguments and, in July 2024, ordered that the MFA complete the necessary formalities for the issuance of the death certificate by the Canadian authorities.
However, the Ministry fulfilled its obligation only in July 2025, after an additional summons, but the certificate received was wrong: his son's first name was written “Custel” instead of “Costel”. Correction requests remain unanswered to date.
“After a month, in August, when I called the Consulate in Vancouver again, an official told me that she had received the death certificate from the Canadian authorities, but with one of the first names spelled wrong – Custel, instead of Costel. She promised to ask for the rectification of the act, but in October they sent us the wrong certificate.” says Alin Abrudan, the woman's lawyer.
Therefore, he once again requested, in writing, that the MAE take the steps to obtain the certificate, correctly, but since then neither he nor the deceased's mother have received any response
“We hoped that the involvement of a deputy would speed up the process, but so far we have not received any confirmation,” added Maria Abrudan, referring to the query made by Arina Moș to the MAE.
