REGISTERING A DEATH

Once the medical certificate stating the cause of death from the doctor or hospital is available, it has to be taken to a Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths who will register the death and issue a death certificate. Normally this is done in the locality (sub-district) where the death occurred, but if this proves a problem any registrar can handle this procedure.

The person who registers the death is known as an informant, and in normal circumstances is either a relative present at the time of death or during the final illness, a relative who lives in the same district as the deceased, a person present at the death or who found the body, the occupier of the building where the death occurred, or the person responsible for the funeral.

If the doctor or hospital does not tell you where you have to register the death, the address can be found in the appropriate telephone directory under Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths or on the website www.gro.gov.uk (www.gro-scotland.gov.uk in Scotland and www.groni.gov.uk in Northern Ireland). Alternatively you can ask at the local council offices, post office or police station.

As mentioned earlier the death must be registered within five days of its occurrence (eight days in Scotland) unless the Registrar gives permission to exceed this limit. If a coroner is involved, however, registration cannot take place until the registrar has received authority from the coroner.

Making an appointment

The registration entails a personal visit to the Registry Office and since some registry offices have restricted opening hours it makes sense to telephone beforehand to make an appointment. Some operate an appointments system as a matter of course, and if you turn up on spec you may have a long wait.

In addition to the medical certificate stating the cause of death you should take along

• the deceased’s medical card, if available
• the deceased’s birth certificate, if available
• the deceased’s marriage certificate, if applicable and available.

You should also be prepared to answer questions about the deceased of the following nature:

• the date and place of death
• the deceased’s last address
• the deceased’s full name – first name(s), surname and maiden name (if applicable)
• the deceased’s date and place of birth
• the deceased’s occupation
• the name and occupation of the deceased’s spouse (if applicable)
• whether the deceased was getting a pension or allowance from public funds
• the date of birth of the surviving widow/widower of the deceased (if applicable).

In Scotland you will also be required to provide the exact time of death, together with details of the deceased’s mother and father and whether they are still alive.

The whole registration procedure takes between 20 and 30 minutes.

Issue of documentation

After you have provided the Registrar with the necessary details, they will enter the details into the death register (which you have to sign) and issue you with one certified copy of the entry – known as the Death Certificate (see Figure 6). Further embossed copies are available on payment of a fee.

Is there any point in getting further copies? In most cases yes, because a number of organisations – such as the deceased’s bank, pension fund managers, insurance companies, etc – may well wish to have evidence of the death before they can release funds. Professional advisers – such as solicitors and accountants – will also wish to see the Death Certificate before they can act. Photocopies are not usually acceptable.

Fortunately, most organisations will not want to keep the certified copy, but will normally return it to you once they

have seen it. So it is not strictly speaking necessary to get certificates to send to each one.

Although registering the death costs nothing, additional copies of the death certificate cost £3.50 in 2005, a sum which increases to £7 after one month. In my mother’s case I asked for five copies, and that proved to be sufficient. Although nearly double that number of organisations wanted proof of her death, they all returned the documents after seeing them.

The Registrar will also issue you with a Certificate of Registration of Death (BD8) which needs to be completed and taken or sent to the local social security office or Job Centre of the Department for Work and Pensions.

You will also be given what is known as the Green Form – the Certificate for Burial or Cremation which has to be given to the funeral director – or the crematorium, cemetery or burial ground authorities if this is to be a DIY funeral. (In Northern Ireland the form is actually white, while in Scotland there is no Green Form to show to the funeral director as a certificate of registration of death will suffice.)

If the body is to be taken out of England and Wales you need to obtain Form 103 from the coroner. In Scotland no special documentation is needed. You should enquire at the consulate of the destination country what documentation is needed with the body.

Incidentally the Registrar may be able to provide you with a useful free booklet entitled What to Do After a Death in England and Wales (D49), describing the procedures you need to go through. Scotland and Northern Ireland have similar literature.