Register a death

Any death that takes place in Scotland must be registered within 8 days of the date of death. You can register the death with any registrar in Scotland.

A burial or cremation cannot take place until the death has been registered. 

If the person has died outside of Scotland, their death needs to be registered in that country.

There is a separate process for registering a stillbirth.

If it’s an emergency death registration

If you need to make an emergency death registration, phone us on 07971 158 453 outside normal working hours only if:

• the burial is taking place within 24 hours
• the deceased is being removed from the country for burial (repatriation).

You can register a death if you:

• are aged 16 years or older
• are related to the person who died
• were there when they died
• are the occupier of the place where they died or you lived with the person if they died at home
• are an executor or other legal representative of the person who died.

If you do not meet one of the criteria above and there is no one else to register the death, then you can register it providing you have the details of the person who died and the required documents. 

It will help if you can tell us the:

• name, occupation, address, date, and country of birth of the person who has died
• name, date of birth, and occupation of their spouse or civil partner (if applicable)
• names and occupation of their parents, including their mother's maiden surname
• name and address of their GP.

We’ll also need these documents, if you have them:

• a birth certificate of the person who has died
• an NHS medical card (if available)
• a marriage or civil partnership certificate (if applicable).

We can still register a death, even if we only have a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD).

The doctor will issue a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD). 

They’ll also take your contact details and ask which registration office you wish to deal with. 

They’ll send the certificate and your details to the registrar.

Once we’ve received the certificate, we'll contact you by phone to start the registration. 

You do not need to book an appointment or come to a registration office in person.

Death certification reviews

A random number of Medical Certificates of Cause of Death (MCCD) are selected for review by the Death Certification Review Service (DCRS).

This is to check the quality and accuracy of the death certificate, record public health information about causes of death in Scotland, and to improve the death registration service. 

If your death registration is selected for review

If the death you are registering is selected for review, you may not be able to register it straight away. We’ll let you know if it has been selected, how long it should take. We’ll contact you when it is complete. 

You can begin to make the funeral arrangements while the review is happening.

However, the funeral cannot take place until the review is completed, and you get a Certificate of Registration of Death (Form 14).

Advance registration

Under special circumstances, a funeral can go ahead before the review of the MCCD is complete. This is called advance registration. 

You can find out more about applying for advance registration on the Healthcare Improvement Scotland website.

We’ll give you:

• an abbreviated death certificate
• a certificate of registration of death (Form 14) – we’ll email this to your chosen funeral director so the burial or cremation can go ahead
• a unique reference number for the Tell Us Once service - this lets you report a death to most government organisations in one step.

There is no cost for these documents.

Full death certificates are available for £10 each, if you need them. We can take payment for it when the registration is taking place.

If you don’t get one at the time of registration, you can order a full death certificate at a later date. 

It costs £15 for a full death certificate if you order it more than 4 weeks after the date of registration.

How to order a death certificate.

When the death has been registered

If the person who died was 18 or over, we’ll notify the relevant council tax or electoral registration authority.

If they were a sole council tenant in Renfrewshire, you can arrange to end their council tenancy.

You may need practical advice about what to do when someone dies. to help you manage.

You can get practical advice from a funeral director, your family doctor, a solicitor, your local social work department or Citizens Advice Bureau. 

See:

• arranging a funeral
• what to do after a death in Scotland (GOV.SCOT)
• practical advice after a death (NHS Inform).

Support with death and bereavement

Renfrewshire Bereavement Network