Register a death within 5 days - what if we can't?

Flugelhorn

Zarniw00p said:

Dear all,

Thank you for your helpful comments, examples, and kind wishes.

It's very reassuring to know that this won't become an issue - it removes an element of stress from the many tasks we have in the coming days.

I'll add that Dad is capable and wants to register the death (one of us will be there also).  We just want to minimise any potential problems, and everyone's comments here have been very helpful in that respect.

Thank you again,

Paul

that's good  - I have registered 3 over the recent years in different places and found the registrars to be very helpful, they are very understanding of the circumstances you are in. 

You are probably also aware of the "tell us once" service which I found useful as they cancelled / notified a range of things on my behalf there and then: 
council tax / blue badge / NHS pension / state pension / attendance allowance / passport / driving licence 

Surfbabe

I had to register my neighbours death - it took 7 days for the doctors to even send the paperwork to the registerar and another week before I could get an appointment to register it. The five day rule is not enforced as far as i can see, as you cant register something you dont have the paperwork for.

Sarahspangles

Surfbabe said:

I had to register my neighbours death - it took 7 days for the doctors to even send the paperwork to the registerar and another week before I could get an appointment to register it. The five day rule is not enforced as far as i can see, as you cant register something you dont have the paperwork for.

I posted a link yesterday to the new process for certification of death starting from today which may slightly delay the issue of paperwork to the Registrar. But that makes clear that the five days starts from the receipt by the registrar of the certificate which will normally be an electronic notification.

I’d assumed that was already the case for the majority of deaths, someone correct me if I’m wrong. My understanding was that the only time that the five days (to register the death) started from actual date of death was a death at home where the patient’s doctor issued a paper certificate to the family, so that they had everything required for the purpose of registration and theirs would be the first contact with the Registrar.