If someone has passed away at home, please call us once the doctor or medical professional has attended to verify the death. If a death has occurred in hospital contact us during waking hours at your earliest convenience. We will guide you through what needs to happen next to reflect your individual circumstances. We will then make arrangements for the deceased to be brought into our care. Our telephone number is 0113 257 0542.

You’ll also be contacted by the medical examiner’s office to confirm you can register the death. Then you must try to make an appointment within 5 days at the registrars (this includes weekends and bank holidays).

On receipt of all the above information the Registrar will issue you with a certificate for burial or cremation. This “green form” should be delivered to our offices as soon as possible. We cannot let the funeral go ahead without the “green form”.

You will be able to purchase certified death certificates, which you will need for administrating the estate eg. probate, insurances, investments etc. The number required depends on the complexity of the estate.

You’ll get a certificate for burial or cremation (often called ‘the green form’).

Give the certificate to your funeral director, crematorium or burial authority. You must do this before the funeral can take place.

If a death is reported to the coroner, the documents you need to register the death may be different. The coroner will decide whether:

• The cause of death is clear
• A post-mortem is needed
• To hold an inquest

If the coroner decides that the cause of death is clear:

1. They will issue a certificate to the registrar saying that a post-mortem or inquest is not issued
2. The registrar will register the death

The coroner may decide a post-mortem is needed to find out how the person died. This can be either done in the hospital or a mortuary.

You cannot object to a coroner’s post-mortem – but if you’ve asked the coroner must tell you (and the persons GP) when and where the examination will take place.

The coroner will release the body for a funeral once they have completed the post-mortem examinations and no further examinations are needed

If the body is released without an inquest, the coroner will send a form (“pink form – form 100B) to the registrar stating the cause of death.

The coroner will also send a “Certificate of Coroner – form Cremation 6” if the body is to be cremated.

A coroner must hold an inquest if:

• The cause of death is still unknown
• The person might have died a violent or unnatural death
• The person might have died in prison or police custody

If you need proof of the death while you wait for the inquest to finish, ask the coroner for an interim death certificate.

Once the inquest is over, you can get the final death certificate from the registrar.

You can use either certificate to:

• Apply for probate
• Report the death to more than one government organisation using “Tell Us Once”- the registrar can help you do this

The “Tell Us Once” service lets you report a death to most government organisations in one go.

You can use “Tell us once” if the person who died:

• normally lived in England, Scotland or Wales
• was abroad temporarily (for example, on holiday or a business trip)

Contact a register office to use “Tell us once”. They will either:

• complete the “Tell us once” service with you
• give you a unique number so you can use the service yourself online or by phone