How to find out when someone died.

looby75

Ok I have no idea where to put this but I know a lot of people on here have a vast knowledge of a lot of things and it is family related so you lucky lot got it lol

Basically our family needs to find out the date that our step grandmother died. We didn't have much contact with her (she went to live with her sons after our grandfather died) before her death and only found out about her death a while afterwards.

Now some legal issues over property have arisen and we need her exact date of death to complete the paperwork.

Does anyone know how we can find this out, to obtain a copy of her death cert you have to know the age at death but we don't know this either.

Grumpelstiltskin

Did she live in Engand or Wales or either of the other UK countries?

You can obtain a copy of her death cert if England or Wales from either the register office in in area she died in or rhe GRO at Southport ( depending on when she died the index is online up to 2005). Cost is £9.25 from the GRO at the moment, I think it could be going up from April.

looby75

She lived in England, we tried to apply for a copy of her death cert online through a link on Direct gov but it asked for her exact age of death and wouldn't let us get any further without it. We have other details such as her address etc just not how old she was.

Youdontseeme

If you know the area where she lived when she died you could try the local papers website for the obituaries?

While this is unlikely to count if you need it for legal reasons do they put birthdays in obituaries? I cant say that i have noticed if they do or not.

PasturesNew

I'm watching this because I am trying to find out IF somebody's died.... which would amount to almost the same question. Trying to contact an uncle after a recent bereavement and it's dead ends all the way ... so I figure he's either died or in a care home - and no way to find out without doing an 800 mile round trip to door knock old family homes/haunts and hope I stumble across somebody with the answer.

looby75

Youdontseeme wrote: »

If you know the area where she lived when she died you could try the local papers website for the obituaries?

While this is unlikely to count if you need it for legal reasons do they put birthdays in obituaries? I cant say that i have noticed if they do or not.

I've spend the last couple of days searching the obituaries in her local paper but can't find her. Not sure if they go back far enough either. They don't put birth dates on btw, but that wouldn't matter if we could find the obituary, as we don't actually need her death cert just the date that she died iyswim.

Itismehonest

Depending on how recently the lady died, you need to look at the GRO Index.
If she died very recently it may not help, though.

If you know the year of death & place (it's done by registration district) then you will be able to order a death certificate.

If the link above doesn't help enough speak to your local main library or Records Office. They should be able to help.

McKneff

Does she have a headstone, do you know anyone in the area who could go and have a look, DOB is usually on there.

Or possibly the church with the graveyeard has a website and records.

System

Phone the registry office in the area she lived in. My husband knew nothing about his Father except a rough area of where he was born and they managed to find his Fathers birth certificate. I cant see it being any different for a death certificate.

looby75

McKneff wrote: »

Does she have a headstone, do you know anyone in the area who could go and have a look, DOB is usually on there.

Or possibly the church with the graveyeard has a website and records.

unfortunatly not, she was cremated we don't know what happened to her ashes but there's no plaque or headstone for her.

looby75

Itismehonest wrote: »

Depending on how recently the lady died, you need to look at the GRO Index.
If she died very recently it may not help, though.

If you know the year of death & place (it's done by registration district) then you will be able to order a death certificate.

If the link above doesn't help enough speak to your local main library or Records Office. They should be able to help.

thats the link we've already tried, won't let us get any further because we don't know how old she was when she died.