What to do immediately after someone dies
If your loved one has died at home and their death was expected, you should call their doctor, who will sign a medical certificate confirming the cause of death. If the death occurs outside doctors opening hours then you need to call the out of hours GP service.
A doctor cannot issue a MCCD (Medical Certificate of Cause of Death) if they are unsure about the cause of death. In this case the death must be reported to the coroner and the deceased taken for a post-mortem examination.
If the death has happened in hospital, the doctor there will issue the certificate.
In some cases, the doctor may decide to refer the matter to the coroner. If the death was unexpected and cause unknown and the deceased hadn't been seen by a doctor recently, a post-mortem might be requested.
Sometimes a death is reported to the coroner by a doctor, or by the police, because it has been sudden or unexpected or as the result of an accident, an industrial injury or other circumstances. The coroner may request the death is investigated by means of a post-mortem. If it is then found that the person died from natural causes you will be told so and paperwork issued for you to register the death and for the funeral to take place.
If the death was not considered to be from natural causes then the coroner will hold an inquest, (an enquiry into the circumstances of the death). Should the coroner request an inquest this will usually be opened and adjourned so the deceased can be released for the funeral to take place. The full inquest hearing is then held at a later date.
Before the MCCD is issued you will receive a telephone call from the Medical Examiner if the deceased died in hospital.
This may be from an unknown number so please answer all calls.
The MCCD will then be emailed to the Registration Office.
Once the MCCD has been received by the Registration Office you should receive a call or text from
them for you to make an appointment to go and register the death.
The paperwork we need for the funeral to go ahead will be emailed directly to us by the Registrar.
We don't need a copy of the MCCD from you.
If you need copies of the MCCD you can get them from the Registration Office when you are there. They are £11.00 each.
Funeral Arrangements
You should contact us as soon as possible after the death of your loved one as this allows us to order relevant paperwork
ie Doctor's cremation forms.
Who can register the death.
A relative should register the death.
If a relative cannot register the death, you can do it if you:
Registering a death
The death must usually be registered within five working day where possible.
If the death has occurred in Lincolnshire it can be registered anywhere in the county-
it does not need to be registered in the district where the death occurred.
If available (but don’t worry if not), also take the person’s: