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do you ned a birth certificate to arrange a funeral in the uk?

hi there, i am in the uk and my friend is in a local hospice terminaly ill. because the family are too far away to arrange her funeral when she dies it is up to me to deal with. what i would like to know is do i need a birth certificate for her to arrange her funeral, both her family and myself have looked through her things and unable to find it

8 Answers

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  • Tavy
    Lv 7
    7 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    No in the UK. I did not need it for my Mother - just her date of birth.

    UK

  • ?
    Lv 7
    7 years ago

    No, as long as you know their date of birth because that gets put on the death certificate. The hospice probably knows anyway even if you don't. It's not a requirement to have a birth certificate because after all, she might have been born in some other part of the world that doesn't have proper birth registration.

    The process is that a doctor will issue a medical certificate of cause of death, you take that to the local registrar and register the death within 5 days. You get a free certificate to get any social security benefits stopped, and a disposal certificate. You have to pay for any actual death certificates and can have as many copies as you like (which can be helpful for dealing with the estate). Take the disposal certificate to an undertaker and you can get the funeral arranged. It is the disposal certificate that authorises the body to be disposed of and the undertaker can't go ahead without that.

    The reason for that is consider the case where someone dies in suspicious circumstances. It gets reported to the coroner and naturally the coroner won't want the body buried or cremated until they have had a post-mortem done. Only then will the coroner issue a disposal certificate.

    The disposal certificate has to go back to the registrar in 14 days to confirm that the funeral has taken place - the undertaker will do that. If not, an environmental health officer will be round to ask what's happening with the body.

  • Anonymous
    7 years ago

    You need a death certificate signed by the last doctor that treated her,that is what a funeral director has to see. If the person that dies has a family,unless you are listed as next of kin you cannot arrange their funeral,they may even have special wishes for a funeral in a will,its very tricky,i would tell the family that they must make time and get to their family member,its not your responsiblity,by the way,who is paying for all this,insurance,if they have any is paid to family for funeral costs,i would step back from this and remind the family of their duties.

  • Maxi
    Lv 7
    7 years ago

    You need a death cert....however I hope you are aware if the person who died doesn't have the money in their estate (this is their property and possessions) to cover the cost of the funeral, the person who organises it will have to pay.unless they have a pre-paid funeral plan....... The death needs registering within 5 days unless a coroner is investigating the circumstances of the death........ When someone dies, a doctor issues a medical certificate of cause of death, this is what you require to get the death cert and without it you can't bury/cremate call a funeral director who will advise, arrange everything.............

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  • ?
    Lv 7
    7 years ago

    You need a death certificate to arrange a funeral, not a birth certificate

  • Anonymous
    7 years ago

    Yes you will need this before burial or cremation, you can call up and get a birth certificate for around £21 it will come in a couple days, sorry about the circumstances hope I helped you, take care your a great friend.

    Source(s): I've lost mines before and got it sent out from the register house.
  • John
    Lv 7
    7 years ago

    You will have to Register the Death first l am sure the Hospice will tell you the

    procedure

  • Anonymous
    7 years ago

    Yes you will need a birth certificate

    Source(s): My relative died, we needed to get his birth certificate
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