Register a death

You must register a death within five days. This is longer if the coroner is involved. All registrations are by appointment only and will take about 40 minutes.

You can register at:

• Paignton Library - Monday to Friday (appointments from 9:30am to 3:30pm)

Who can register a death

You can register the death if:

• you’re a relative
• you were there at the time of death
• you found the body
• you’re an administrator at the hospital, hospice or care home where the person died
• you’re in charge of making funeral arrangements

What to bring to the appointment

• You will need to bring these things with you:
• the birth certificate, passport and driving licence for the person who died
• their council tax bill
• their marriage or civil partnership certificate, if any

We’ll also need your name and address. Please bring some ID with you like your passport, council tax bill, driving licence, birth certificate or a utility bill

What information we need to know

We’ll need this information about the person who died, if you have it:

• their full name and any previous names
• their place and date of birth
• their place and date of death
• their job and whether they were retired
• their address
• their NHS number (if you have it)
• the full name, job and date of birth of their spouse or partner if they were married or in a civil partnership

The registrar will ask you to sign to confirm that the details in the register are correct.

If you notice a mistake after the registration you will need to apply for the entry to be corrected. There is a charge for corrections.

What we will give you

We will give you a Certificate for Burial or Cremation, sometimes called the green form. This means you can arrange the burial or cremation.

You can buy death certificates for £11 each. You’ll need a certificate when you tell organisations, like banks or insurance companies, that the person has died.

You can buy more certificates any time after the registration.

The Tell Us Once service will be offered during your appointment and sent to you by email.

Deaths outside Torbay

If you cannot register the death in the area where the death happened we can send your details to the correct office.

The registrar in that area will enter the information in the death register. They will call you to make a payment for copies of the death certificate if you would like one.