Published on: 4th September 2017

How to register a death

When a person dies, their death needs to be registered within five working days of the death and must be registered at the local register office with the registrar for births, deaths and marriages. There are many people who can register the death, including:

• Anybody present at the death
• The person arranging the funeral (although not the funeral director)
• An official from the hospital or hospice where the individual passed away
• An owner/occupier of the building where the individual passed away
• A relative living in the register office district where the death took place

To register the death you will need to take the medical certificate that shows the cause of death; please note this is not the death certificate. If the individual passed away at home, the medical certificate may be held at the deceased's doctor's surgery. Alternatively, if the individual passed away in a hospital or hospice, a member of staff should be able to provide a medical certificate. When registering the death, you will need to also provide these details: the date and place of death, the deceased's full name and any former names, their date and place of birth, their last known address (such as a hospice) and, if they were married, their spouse's full name and occupation. It is advisable, although not essential, that you take with you to the register office the following:

• Passport
• Driving Licence
• Proof of address (usually a utility bill)
• NHS medical card
• Birth certificate
• Marriage/Civil Partnership certificate

The registrar will give you a Certificate for Registration of Death as well as a Certificate for Burial and Cremation. Once you have registered the death, you can obtain a death certificate. Extra copies are available from the local register office where the death was registered. Although there is a small fee for extra copies, they are very often useful as you may need to give copies out to banks/insurance companies etc. If you are not the executor of the estate you should make contact with the executor as a matter of urgency since the executor will have various duties to carry out. Please click this link to find out more about being an executor.

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