You should register a death in the district where it occurred. You should aim to do this within 5 days of the Medical Examiner’s Office sending the medical certificate of cause of death (MCCD) to the Registrar. This includes weekends and Bank Holidays. The Medical Examiner’s Office will speak with the next of kin. They will advise when the medical certificate will be emailed to the register office.  Sometimes it is not possible to attend a register office in the district in which the death took place. Arrangements can be made for you to attend another office in England and Wales. 

Documents and information needed to register a death.

A doctor will issue a medical certificate of cause of death, provided the death has not been referred to the Coroner. It will then be sent electronically to the Register Office after the Medical Examiner has reviewed it. A death cannot be registered without this document.   

Please do not book an appointment until you have spoken to the Medical Examiner’s Office. They must advise you that the medical certificate is being emailed to the registrars. 

Once this is done you will be able to book an appointment to register the death. 

Where can you register?

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

  Book an appointment in Torbay

All registration information is gathered by directly questioning the person registering the death.  Please provide supporting documents to help ensure records are as accurate as possible. If you can, bring various documents to support different areas of the register entry. This could be to verify names, addresses, relationships, places and dates of events.

Supporting documents for the deceased:

• Birth Certificate
• Passport
• Driving Licence
• Proof of Address (utility bill)
• Marriage/Civil Partnership certificates
• Deed Poll
• NHS medical card/ NHS number

Supporting documents for the informant:

• Passport
• Driving Licence
• Proof of Address (utility bill)

The absence of supporting documents will not prevent the registration from taking place. 

You will need to provide the occupation of the deceased and, if relevant, the full name and occupation of their spouse or Civil Partner. We also need to know if the deceased received any other government pension besides Social Security pensions or benefits.

The information will then be written into a register. We will ask you to check all details carefully before signing to say that they are all correct.

Who can register a death

It is a legal obligation to register a death. Ideally a relative or the partner of the person who has died should do this. 

The partner of the person who has died is defined as:

“A person is the partner of a deceased person if the two of them (whether of different sexes or the same sex) were living as partners in an enduring relationship at the time of the deceased person’s death.”  

If no relative or partner is available, then it is possible for someone else to do it. This could be someone who was present at the death. For example:

• a senior member of staff from the establishment in which the death occurred
• a personal representative appointed by the family/next of kin

Sometimes multiple appointments are made by different informants to register the same death. If this happens, the registration will be done at the first scheduled appointment. All other appointments will be cancelled.

What happens at the appointment

We will see you in a private room. In most cases, the registration process should take no more than 40 minutes.

Please have to hand:

• the information to be recorded in the register
• supporting documents to help ensure the accuracy of the information
• a debit or credit card if you wish to purchase death certificates

Your appointment will be in person with a Registration Officer at the location you chose.

You can pre-pay for death certificate(s) when making your online booking. You can also buy death certificate(s) at the time of registration for £12.50 each.  We accept card payment or cash (please bring the correct money if possible).  You can also order death certificate(s) online at a later date. This is for the same statutory fee of £12.50 per certificate.

Certificates

After the death has been registered, we will issue the following document free of charge:

Certificate for Burial or Cremation (green form). This Certificate should be given to the funeral director to enable the funeral to take place. The Registrar will ask your permission to scan the document.

You may also need to buy death certificates. A death certificate is a certified copy of the entry in the register of deaths. It is subject to crown copyright and cannot be photocopied.

Death Certificates. These can be used when dealing with the deceased’s financial matters. They are not required for state pension, DVLA etc. These are all dealt with by the Tell Us Once Service. Funeral Directors also do not need a copy.

Death certificates may be required for the following: 

• Insurance Policies.
• Banks / Building Societies. Not one per organisation, they should be able to copy and return to you.
• National Savings (Premium Bonds).
• Property Matters may be being dealt with by a solicitor (they can copy and certify at a cost if more than one needed).
• Stocks/ Shares etc.

Two types of Death Certificate are available.  A full death certificate includes all information recorded in the register entry.  A short death certificate does not show the cause of death or the sex of the person who has died.  The fee is the same. You don't need to specify which you want when pre-ordering certificates. You can pay for death certificate(s) at the time of booking your appointment online or you can pay during your appointment. If you need more copies you can get a copy death certificate  after the death has been registered. The cost is still the same for further copies at a later date.  

Tell us once

At the end of the appointment, we will issue you with a reference number. You can use this to access the free Tell Us Once service. This will then notify government and local council departments and services. The Tell Us Once service is not compulsory. It may be completed within the following 28 days online or by telephone. We will explain how to do this.

Watch a short video on how to report a death using the Tell Us Once service

The Tell Us Once service treats all information securely and confidentially.

The organisations who are contacted will use the information to update records. This could be:

• to end services
• stop benefits and credits as appropriate
• to resolve any outstanding issues

They may use this information in other ways, but only as the law allows.

• Find more information on Tell Us Once.
• Find out further information on what to do after a death

Privacy statement

Tell Us Once has a privacy statement which tells you how the information you provide when using this service will be used and protected. Ask the registration officer if you wish to see the full privacy statement or you can view it here.