Helpful and practical information
If there has been a death in your family and you don't know what to do , the information by St. James Funeral Home of Swansea will be of great help to you.
Registration
The death should be registered at the registrar of births, deaths and marriages office covering the geographical area that the death occurred. It is normal in most registrars' offices to ring to make an appointment. They will normally require the death certificate number, the name of the deceased and informant.
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When registering the death you will need to provide
The death certificate, full name, date and place of birth of the deceased and surviving spouse, occupation or former occupation if retired. The deceased’s medical card if available should be returned at this time.
You will be issued with:-
- A white certificate for the Department of Social Security, which should be completed and returned to them.
- A green certificate which should be handed to the funeral director.
- Certificates for insurance purposes may be obtained from the registrar at this time (fee applicable). For deaths involving the coroner please read the section below.
Coroner
In some circumstances the doctor may not feel he is able to issue a death certificate, the reason may be that he or she has not seen the deceased within the last 14 days (by law reportable to the coroner). He cannot accurately give a cause of death or there are suspicious circumstances surrounding the death. If this is the case he will report to the coroner. In the first instance, if the death has occurred at home or a nursing home he would contact the local police station, a police officer would come to the home and take some details before instructing the funeral director to transport the deceased to the local hospital mortuary, pending a possible post-mortem examination.
If the coroner is involved, the procedure for registration is slightly different. You will receive a call from the coroner's office after the post-mortem examination has taken place to inform you of their findings. They will then instruct you as to when and where you can collect the death certificate and make an appointment at the registrars.
If there is a need for an inquest they will let you know when and where to attend the coroner's court. An inquest will be opened, brief details confirmed and then the inquest will be adjourned to be reconvened at a later date. This allows for an interim death certificate to be given to allow the funeral to go ahead.
For professional advice, call now on
01792 643 840
