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Registering a Death

By law, a death has to be registered in the registration district where the death occurred, before the funeral can take place.

 

It is not necessary to register the death before starting to make provisional arrangements, however, funeral arrangements should not be treated as confirmed until the death has been registered.

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In most cases, a Medical Cause of Death Certificate will have been issued by the doctor who had been treating the deceased immediately before the death occurred. The usual GP or the deceased's most recent attending doctor will send the cause of death certificate to the register office with the next of kin's details as per the surgery's information. The next of kin will then be contacted to make an appointment for registration upon receipt of this. 

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It is not advisable to attend the Register office without an appointment, you may have to wait for a long time, or not be seen at all. You will not be given an appointment until you know when the Medical Cause of Death Certificate will be available. 

Registering a death will take under half an hour and will consist of a short 'interview' where you will be asked for the following information –

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  • The date and place of death

  • The full name of the person who has died

  • Their name before they were married

  • Their date and place of birth

  • Their job and, if they were a married woman, the full name and job of their husband

  • Their usual residency address

  • The date of birth of their husband or wife (if they were married)

  • Their National Health Service Medical card, if you have this

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After the death has been registered, the Registrar will issue a document which allows the funeral to take place. This should be sent directly to the funeral director by the register office (this is true in Milton Keynes, this process may be different in another county's register office) This document is called a 'green certificate'. They will also issue copies of the entry in the register which may be required for bank accounts, insurances etc (there will be a charge for a certain amount of these.)

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Please note that if the death was sudden or unexpected, the Coroner may call for an investigation, in which case the registering process is different from above. There may be a requirement for a post mortem, whish will take place at a hospital. If this happens at home, the deceased will have to be transported to the hospital by the coroner's nominated funeral director. (You are under absolutely no obligation to use the coroner's nominated funeral director, they are simply nominated to transport the deceased to the required destination for the coroner. Please call us or click here for advise if you are unsure.

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Milton Keynes Registry Office

Address: The Superintendent Registrar, 1 Saxon Gate, East, Milton Keynes MK9 3EJ
Telephone: 01908 372101


Email- registrars@milton-keynes.gov.uk


Opening hours are 9.30am to 4.30pm Monday to Friday. Please make an appointment to see the Registrar by telephoning during office hours.

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We are able to provide customers with transport to the Register Office if necessary, please call us when you have an appointment to arrange this.

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