A Sudden Death
Nothing prepares you for the emotional shock of losing a loved one, especially if the death was unexpected and you may have found them in unfortunate circumstances.
The first thing to remember is that we are here to help, if at any time you are unsure what to do, or if you feel your circumstances differ from the below, please contact us. You do not need to have registered the death to ask us for advice or start discussing funeral arrangements.
A sudden death has occurred at a hospital
This section will also apply to patients who died during an operation, or who did not come out of anaesthetic.
Most hospitals have their own mortuary, and so immediate removal of the deceased is not required, if this is not the case, the hospital will inform us of the death and we will make arrangements to move the deceased to a mortuary under the coroner's jurisdiction.
The hospital will make contact with the coroner.
In this situation a post-mortem will usually be needed to determine the cause of death. The coroner's officers will contact you to discuss how they will proceed.
A sudden death occurred at a care home
The paramedics attending the scene will contact the police.
The police may attend and take statements, once appropriate, they will ask if you have a chosen funeral director, if so, they will contact them to arrange for the deceased to moved to a mortuary under the coroner's jurisdiction. If you have not chosen a funeral director, the police will contact the duty funeral director. Please remember that you are not obligated to use the duty funeral director for funeral arrangements.
The coroner's officer will speak to all those involved, including the GP and then contact you to discuss how they will proceed.
A sudden death occurs anywhere else, including at home
The paramedics attending the scene will contact the police.
The police may attend and take statements, once appropriate, they will ask if you have a chosen funeral director, if so, they will contact them to arrange for the deceased to moved to a mortuary under the coroner's jurisdiction. If you have not chosen a funeral director, the police will contact the duty funeral director. Please remember that you are not obligated to use the duty funeral director for funeral arrangements.
The coroner's officer will speak to all those involved, including the GP and then contact you to discuss how they will proceed.
When do I register the death?
If the coroner's officers decide no further action is required and they ask the the doctor to issue the Cause of Death Certificate, please see An Expected Death.
If a post-mortem takes place and a satisfactory cause of death is found, the coroner's officers will send the relevant information to the Registrar, they will tell you when you can register the death. Find your local Registry Office.
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If the deceased is to be cremated, the coroner will issue a form directly to the funeral director that allows the funeral to take place. You can contact the Registry Office to use the Tell Us Once Service.
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If the deceased is to be buried, please see An Expected Death, except the coroner will issue a form directly to the Registrar instead of the doctor.
If no cause of death is found, if the death is possibly violent or unnatural, or occurred in police custody, an inquest must take place. The coroner's office may also decide that a cause of death is clear without a post-mortem, but the circumstances surrounding the death requires looking into, in which case an inquest will take place.
An inquest is a court hearing to determine how a person died, and usually takes between 3 and 6 months. You will not need to register the death, the coroner will simply tell the Registrar what to enter in their register. The coroner will issue an interim death certificate to allow you to begin to settle the estate of the deceased. A full death certificate can be issued once the inquest is concluded. You will need to contact the Registry Office to obtain this.
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For either burial or cremation, the coroner will issue a form directly to the funeral director that allows the funeral to take place. You can contact the Registry Office to use the Tell Us Once Service.
I can't attend the Registry Office local to the death.
Once the coroner has sent their paperwork to the Registrar in the district where the death occurred, make an appointment at the most convenient Registry Office, you must tell them you want to 'Register by Declaration'.
You will then go through the Registration procedure as normal, the information will be sent to the Registry Office in the district the death occurred, and they will issue all the paperwork and post it to you.
Please note that this method may delay the funeral, and should be used only if there is no alternative.