Deaths

A death which occurs in Scotland must be registered within eight days of the date of death. The law allows a death to be registered in any registration district in Scotland.

Before the death registration process can begin, we must be in possession of a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (Form 11) (MCCD). It is the responsibility of the GP or certifying Doctor to email this certificate/form through to the Registrar in the local area, as identified by the informant (The person who registers the death). MCCD's should only be sent to one local Registrartion Office, usually the office nearest the address of the deceased. Sending MCCD's to multiple offices can result in delays and could also result in the death being registered more than once.

If the death is to be registered in East Dunbartonshire then this should be emailed to registration.services@eastdunbarton.gov.uk

It would greatly assist the registration process if contact details of the nominated informant e.g. a family member or funeral director could be included when the MCCD is sent to the Registration Office. If no contact details are provided it is then the responsibility of the informant to contact the Registration Office to start proceedings/initiate the process.

Thereafter, the original copy of the MCCD should be posted to the Registration office by the GP or certifying Doctor to :

The Registrar, William Patrick Library, 2-4 West High Street Kirkintilloch G66 1AD

As soon as the MCCD is received by the registration office, the process of registration can begin, and a member of the registration team will contact you. This is normally within a few days of receiving the paperwork.  Please note the call may be from an unknown number.

Registrations are dealt with in the order in which the paperwork is received.

Please note it may take more than a single phone call with the informant to finalise the registration process.  

It is recommended that whilst preliminary arrangements can be made regarding the funeral service a date for the service should not be finalised until the registration of the death has been completed.  Your chosen Funeral Director should advise you of the same.

New arrangements for the certification and registration of deaths in Scotland were introduced on 13 May 2015. This included the establishment of an independent review service run by Healthcare Improvement Scotland. Information on all aspects of the Death Certification Review Service is available on the Healthcare Improvement Scotland website.

If you wish to make an application for an advanced registration, please inform the registrar when you attend to register the death. An application form is attached but it is not essential to complete this prior to attending the registration office.

The death can be registered by:

• Any relative of the deceased, or
• Any person present when the person died, or
• The deceased's executor or other legal representative, or
• The occupier of the property where the person died, or if there is no such person,anyone else who knows the information to be registered.

To assist the registration, it would be helpful if you have the following available:

• The deceased's birth certificate
• The deceased’s marriage or civil partnership certificate, if applicable
• the deceased's NHS medical card
• Any documents relating to the receipt of a pension or allowance from government funds.

Provided the registrar has the medical certificate of cause of death, do not worry if any other documents are not available as the registrar can still proceed to register the death. The following information about the deceased is required:

• full name
• date and place of birth
• occupation
• address
• the full names of all spouses/civil partners and their occupations
• father's full name and usual occupation
• mother's full name, including maiden surname and usual occupation

When the registration is complete, the registrar will give you, free of charge:

• a certificate of registration of death (Form 14), which will be required by the funeral director before any burial or cremation service. If the funeral director’s details are known at the time of registration, this form is sent to them directly by email.
• an abbreviated extract of the death entry (i.e. excluding cause of death and parentage details)
• full extract(s) of the death may be obtained on payment of the current statutory fee.

You should register the death according to the regulations in the country where the person died. You will be given a local death certificate. This local death certificate will be accepted in the United Kingdom. It may need to be a certified translation of the document if it is not in English.

You can also apply to register the death with the UK authorities. You don’t have to do this, but it means that a record of the death will be sent to the National Records of Scotland and you can order a consular death registration certificate from New Register House.

Visit our webpage on registering a death overseas for more information.