You will need to collect the ‘Medical Certificate of Cause of Death’ which the GP has signed from the doctors’ surgery or the hospital bereavement office.
When you have this document you then need to call the registrars’ office in the area where the death occurred (click here to find your local registrars office) and make an appointment to register the death. Some registrars offices do allow you to make an appointment online. Please make sure you take this Medical Certificate with you.
If you are unable to visit the registrar in the area where the death occurred, ask for a registration ‘By Declaration’. This relies on the Royal Mail or courier so allow extra time for this to take place.
The Registrar will issue Death Certificates, which cost £11 each. You might need 3-5 copies to send to the bank, solicitors etc., depending on the complexity of the estate.
Deaths in England, Wales and Northern Ireland should be registered within five days. If you are unable to do this, for example you were out of the country when your loved one died, you must at least have made the appointment and informed the Registrar.
Deaths are referred to the coroner by the GP or emergency services if the death is sudden, or the cause of death cannot be readily established by the GP.
This can simply be because the person has not been seen by the doctor within the last 14 days, or because the person may have died from something other than that which the doctor was treating.
What is a post mortem?
A post mortem is an examination of the person’s body, and is needed in order to establish the cause of death.. If after making all necessary enquiries, and the cause of death is established as Natural Causes, there is no post mortem. In this case, and if the person is to be buried, the family need to register the death in the normal way. In the case of cremation, the coroner will inform the Registrar, which then allows the funeral to proceed; however, in this case, the family will need to visit the registrar to get Death Certificates.
What is an inquest?
An inquest is called if the circumstances surrounding the death need further investigation – perhaps following concern over nursing or medical care, sudden unexplained death or suspected foul play.
If an inquest is called, it is immediately adjourned to allow for the facts to be gathered, and need not delay the funeral.
If you are having trouble paying for a funeral, it is very important to discuss this with us in advance: if possible we will try and work out some payment plan with you.
In addition: you may be able to get a Funeral Expenses Payment from the Government:
You (or your partner) must be getting one or more of the following:
You can still claim a Funeral Expenses Payment if you’ve applied for these benefits and you’re waiting to hear about your claim.
If you were responsible for a deceased child but you’re not their parent, the non-resident parent must get one or more of these benefits.
If there’s a close relative of the deceased who is not getting one of these benefits, you might not be able to claim a Funeral Expenses Payment.
To be eligible for a Funeral Expenses Payment, you must be:
You might not get a Funeral Expenses Payment if another close relative of the deceased (such as a sibling or parent) is in work.
A Funeral Expenses Payment can help to pay for some of the costs of the following:
You can also get up to £700 for any other funeral expenses, such as funeral director’s fees, flowers or the coffin.
The payment will not usually cover all of the costs of the funeral.
How much you get depends on your circumstances. This includes any other money that’s available to cover the costs, for example from an insurance policy or the deceased person’s estate.
More detail here can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/funeral-payments
A direct cremation is a funeral where the person who died is collected and cared for and cremated with no family or minister present. It is a perfectly respectable choice (David Bowie, Albert Einstein, Amy Winehouse, Alfred Hitchcock, John Lennon), and is sometimes known as an ‘Unattended’ funeral. It is cheaper, complete and unfussy.
Families often have a memorial gathering of some kind at some future date.
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