What To Do When Someone Dies

Firstly, please call us day or night to discuss anything and everything.

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If you don’t want to read everything in this section, just call us and we will spend as much time as we need to help understand your situation and provide timely and useful help.

In more detail..

 

Collection of the Person

Our staff are available 24 hours a day and for immediate assistance please call 01723 267 346. For deaths at home, in a nursing or care home We will arrange for your loved one to be collected and brought to our funeral home. We use the best quality removal equipment to ensure a safe and dignified journey.

 

Hospital Deaths

If your loved one passes away in hospital they will usually remain there initially. The Bereavement Office within the hospital will be able to advise you what to do next, depending on the circumstances of the death. Usually if the death was expected, the medical certificate that is required to register the death will be available to collect from the bereavement office quite quickly. However circumstances vary and we would always advise you to ring the bereavement office before you attend to make sure the certificate is ready for you to collect. Once you have the medical certificate, the death must be registered at the appropriate registrars. For deaths occurring at a Scarborough Hospital you should make an appointment with Scarborough Register Office, Burniston road. Telelphone: 01609780780

 

Death in a Nursing or Care Home

Usually, the staff at the care or nursing home will contact us to arrange for transportation of your loved one to our funeral home. We will check that a doctor or other qualified person has attended. We will also make sure any family who would like to see them before we arrive has done so. Our staff are on call 24 hours a day and we aim to be in attendance within an hour of the request. You will need to collect from the doctor the Medical Certificate to enable you to register the death. Sometimes if the doctor has attended the care home they may leave the certificate there for your collection. Usually though, it will be available from the doctors surgery. Always ring the surgery to make sure it is ready for collection

 

 

Referral to the Coroner

Sometimes a death must be reported to the Coroner. The reasons vary, but most likely is that the death was unexpected and a doctor may not be certain of the cause. For instance the following cases would be reported to the coroner:

  • Where there is no doctor who can issue a medical certificate of cause of death
  • When the deceased was not seen by a doctor within 14 days before death
  • Where the cause of death is unknown by the doctor
  • Where the cause of death is believed to be unnatural or suspicious
  • Where the death occurred during an operation, or before recovery from an anesthetic.
  • Where the death is due to industrial disease or industrial poisoning

Once a death has been reported to the coroner, the death cannot be registered until the coroner has decided whether any further investigation is needed. Sometimes the coroner will give the doctor permission to issue the Medial Certificate and you can register in the normal way. However, if the coroner decides to take over, the procedures will vary greatly depending on the circumstance of death.

 

 

Registering the death:

Once you have the medical certificate the death (this is the Cause-of-Death Certificate, not to be confused with the actual ‘Death Certificate’ which the Registar will issue) the death must be registered at the appropriate registrars. Ordinarily the registrar will issue a green certificate, which will be required by us to enable the funeral to take place. This is issued free of charge. On request the registrar will issue copies of the death certificate and for each copy a fee will be charged. Give some thought to how many you might need.

 

Key Points:
  • When someone dies, the death needs to be registered within 5 days
  • You must register the death in the area where the death took place (you may use the registration by declaration service if the informant lives in another district, we can advise you what is best)
  • A death should be registered by a relative or person present when the person died, someone else living at the address where the person died or someone taking responsibility for the funeral arrangements
  • The appointment with the Registrar takes around 40 minutes
  • There are documents required for registration including the Medical Certificate of the Cause of Death, signed by a doctor.
  • The Death Certificate will be issued to you. (You may need to purchase more than one copy)
  • They will issue you with a green certificate, this must be given to us
  • You may use the ‘tell us once’ system (see below). The registrar will notify governing bodies that the person had died, this is done on your behalf.

 

What the Registrar needs from you:
  • The Medical Certificate of the Cause of Death
  • The deceased’s birth certificate and marriage certificate
  • NHS Medical Card
  • Proof of address for you as the informant
  • Identification for you as the informant
  • Identification for the person who has died
  • The name and address of the person who has died
  • Their place and date of birth
  • Details of where the person died
  • The previous occupation of the person who has died
  • If they were in receipt of any benefits or pensions
  • The applicable fees for registration

 

What the Registrar will give you
  • Certificate for Burial or Cremation (Green Form)
  • Certificate of Registering the Death
  • Death Certificate (This is necessary to allow you to manage the estate of the person who has died. This will be required by any Executors of the persons estate, a solicitor, banks, insurance companies, pension companies, and employers of the deceased)
  • Original copies of the Death Certificate must be given to governing bodies listed above, photocopies are not accepted. Please purchase other copies where necessary. If copies are purchased later, the cost increases.

 

Tell Us Once

The Tell Us Once service allows notification of a person’s death to governing bodies.

This service will notify:

  • HMRC (HM Revenue and Customs)
  • DWP (Department for Works and Pensions)
  • The Passport Agency
  • DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency)
  • Veterans UK
  • Local Councils