Not releasing a death certificate.

Brricktop69

Not sure if anyone can advise on this but worth asking.

My wifes stepfather passed away recently overseas, he owns a property out there and also has family who live in the same area. The cremation has taken place and we have the ashes back however his brother is refusing to send the original death certificate to the next of kin. As such nothing can be done over here in regard to dea;ing with his estate. This has been going on for several weeks now with no movement. His brother claims he needs the certificate for his solicitor at his end, there is no mention of his brother in the will and we can only assume he is trying to sell the property. This in itself isn't too much of an issue as nobody in the family has any interest in it and the plan was to pass the ownership to his brother anyway. There is also no record of the property in the will or paperwork relating to the property that anyone can find. As such dispite having the property for over a decade there is no proof of ownership.

The main issue isnt the property but the fact that nobody can move forward with the execution of his estate without this original certificte, he has supplied certified copies but they will not be accepted in the UK.

We have been in touch with the consulate and the solicitor who made the will but his brother is ignoring everthing and refusing to hand over the original.

Any thoughts?

elsien

Was he a British citizen? 

Brricktop69

elsien said:

Was he a British citizen? 

Yes he was.

elsien

If the brother would register a consular death certificate, would that work? 

Alderbank

I don't think anyone here in the UK can help you without knowing which country you are talking about.

In the UK (and all other countries I know about) the original death certificate is retained by the registrar. We only ever see authorised copies. No-one ever receives, or even sees, the original certificate.

Which is this country which hands over the original certificate and why does no-one the UK accept certified copies from that regime?

Keep_pedalling

I would have thought like in the UK you could obtain as many copies of the death certificate as needed. 

TonyMMM

In the UK, the original document is the register entry, there is no original certificate  -  ALL certificates are certified copies of that.

Brricktop69

Sorry just to clarify, he passed away on Zimbabwe. 

JGB1955

I think I would start by contacting the Zimbabwe Embassy in London for advice.  According to Zimparis - Birth and Death Certificate, duplicate death certificates are available for a small fee (US$5).