You will need a medical certificate giving the cause of death. This will be issued by a doctor if the death took place in a hospital or by the person's GP if the death took place at home.
2. Register the death
The Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages must be informed of the death. This must be done at the Registry Office in the district where the death took place. It is a criminal offence not to register a death.
- As a rule, the registration should be made within five days of the date of the death.
- As well as the medical certificate mentioned above, you should take with you the person's birth certificate, any marriage certificate, and their NHS medical card.
- The following information will also be needed:
- - Date and place of death;
- - Full name of the deceased (including maiden name) and their last address;
- - Their date and place of birth;
- - Their occupation
- - If the person was still married, the date of birth of their spouse; and
- - Whether the person was receiving a pension or other social security benefits.
- When the death has been registered, the Registrar will give you a green certificate to give to a funeral director to allow a burial or cremation to go ahead. You can order copies of the death certificate for a small fee. At this point it is useful to order a number of these so that they can be sent to various institutions (such as the deceased's banks) at a later date.
3. Arrange the funeral
A funeral can take place any time after the death, once the certificate has been received from the Registrar. Usually the nearest relatives arrange the funeral but it can be done by anyone close to the person. The deceased person may have left instructions about whether they wanted to be buried or cremated and whether they wanted a memorial. There is, however, no legal obligation to follow these instructions.
The person who arranges the funeral and who contracts with the undertaker will be responsible for paying the undertaker's bill, so do not enter into any discussions with the undertaker unless you are happy to be liable to pay their fees. The person who died may have taken out a pre-paid funeral plan or had an insurance policy to cover funeral costs. If not, even if their bank account has been frozen (this happens automatically as soon as the bank learn of the death) it may be possible to get the bank to release funds to pay for the funeral. Failing this, the person arranging the funeral is likely to have to make the payment and claim it back at a later date.
