In short
- "The morgue" is the county medical examiner's office. Each of the five counties below has its own.
- You rarely need to go there. The next of kin names a funeral home, and the funeral home deals with the office.
- Viewing happens at the funeral home, not at the office.
- The office handles the person, not the house. The police release the home.
When someone dies unexpectedly in a large Texas county, the person is taken to the county medical examiner, and most families search for it as “the morgue”. Below is each office’s address, phone and hours as the county publishes them — and what the office does and does not do for you, which is usually the more useful part.
Which office handles a death in your city?
Dallas County Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences
2355 N. Stemmons Freeway, Dallas, TX 75207 · (214) 920-5900
Do you need to go to the morgue?
Usually not. The step the family controls is choosing a funeral home. In the counties this site has read, the release of the person waits until the next of kin has named one, and the funeral home then deals with the office directly. Travis County spells out the mechanics: the family selects a funeral home, tells the funeral director the death is being handled by the medical examiner, and signs the release form at the funeral home. Only the legal next of kin can sign it; one who is out of town can send the authorization by email or fax.
Two other things families expect to do there, and usually cannot:
- Viewing. Harris County is explicit: “We do not arrange viewings at the Institute.” Viewing is arranged through the funeral director.
- Collecting belongings. Only what was on the person comes to the office. In Dallas County’s words, “other property will be left in the residence, which is secured and released to the family by the police.”
And one thing the office does not do at all: Tarrant County states that “The Medical Examiner’s Office does not store, embalm or cremate bodies.” A funeral home has to be chosen before anything moves. How long each county says it takes.
Dallas County morgue: SWIFS
The Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences is Dallas County’s medical examiner, and it handles deaths in Dallas and Garland.
- Address: 2355 N. Stemmons Freeway, Dallas, TX 75207
- Phone: (214) 920-5900, option 1 for Investigations
- Hours: 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, Monday to Friday, as published
- Status online: the county runs a lookup at dallascounty.org/mepi that shows when a person is ready for release. It was not responding when we last checked, so keep the phone number too.
- Cost: the county states there are no charges for medical examiner services, and that it does not provide financial assistance for final disposition.
Tarrant County morgue: Fort Worth and Arlington
Tarrant County runs a medical examiner’s district rather than a county office: one office for Tarrant, Parker, Denton and Johnson Counties.
- Address: 200 Feliks Gwozdz Place, Fort Worth, TX 76104
- Phone: 817-920-5700. The district states that assistance is available 24 hours a day on that number, and keeps a part-time Family Advocate on ext. 8672.
- Release: a body is generally ready for release within 24 hours, but releases to funeral homes happen on weekdays only, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., with none on weekends or holidays.
- Report: the examination report may take up to twelve weeks or longer, the county says.
Harris County morgue: Houston
The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences is the county’s medical examiner and its crime laboratory.
- Address: 1861 Old Spanish Trail, Houston, TX 77054
- Phone: (832) 927-5000, answered 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday, except county holidays. Victim’s Assistance, for questions and community resources: (832) 927-5007.
- Release: in most cases within 24 hours of arrival, though some cases take longer.
- Status online: IFSCaseStatus.com.
- Death certificates: “The Institute does not issue death certificates.” It completes the medical part, and the funeral home completes the rest and files it.
Travis County morgue: Austin
- Address: 7723 Springdale Road, Austin, TX 78724
- Phone: (512) 854-9599
- Examination: generally 12 to 24 hours, longer in some cases. The autopsy report can take up to 90 days when tests are complex.
- Death certificates: the office does not provide copies. It works with the funeral home to complete the certificate within ten working days.
Bexar County morgue: San Antonio
The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office sits in the county’s Forensic Science Center, and it also serves several surrounding counties that have no medical examiner of their own.
- Address: 7337 Louis Pasteur Drive, San Antonio, TX 78229
- Phone: 210-335-4000
- Hours: the lobby is open Monday to Friday, 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, closed on county holidays. The county publishes no after-hours line on these pages, so an out-of-hours question goes to the police.
- Release timing: Bexar County publishes none.
The house is a separate matter
The medical examiner releases the person. The police release the home, and nothing in it should be moved or cleaned until they do. After that the cleanup is the owner’s or the family’s to arrange — no county office does it. Who releases a death scene, and when · who cleans up after a death in Texas.
Addresses, phones and hours are as each county publishes them, with the pages linked below. They change; if a number does not answer, the county’s own site is the authority.