General Information

An appointment is required to register a death at one of our offices within Surrey. Please telephone 0300 200 1002 to make an appointment.

If the death has been referred to the coroner, it cannot be registered until the registrar has received authority from the coroner to do so. If the death has not been referred to the coroner and you have a medical certificate of cause of death from the doctor, go to the registrar as soon as possible.

The death must be registered within five days (unless the registrar says this period may be extended) in the district in which the death occurred. There is no charge to register a death.

The Surrey Registration District includes all areas within the Elmbridge, Epsom and Ewell, Guildford, Mole Valley, Reigate and Banstead, Runnymede, Spelthorne, Surrey Heath, Tandridge, Waverley and Woking council areas. Please note: it does not include addresses within Croydon, Kingston upon Thames, Merton, Richmond upon Thames and Sutton as they are separate registration districts. If you are unsure whether the place of death is within the County of Surrey, you can check with our postcode finder.

If you are unable to attend at the registrar's office in the district in which the death occurred, the information for registration may be given to any registrar in England and Wales. You will need to attend your chosen registrar's office to make a declaration of the particulars for the registration. The declaration will then be forwarded to the registrar for the district where the death took place, where it will be registered. There may be some delay in certificates being issued as this cannot be done until the death has been registered in the correct district and they will be sent onto you - you will not get any paperwork at the declaration appointment itself.

Where can I register in Surrey?

In addition to our three main offices in Guildford, Leatherhead and Weybridge, we also have registrars located in Farnham, Frimley, Haslemere and Reigate for the registration of deaths. Please telephone 0300 200 1002 to make an appointment.

Tell Us Once

When someone has died, there are lots of things that need to be done, at a time when you least feel like doing them. One of these is contacting government departments and local council services that need to be informed of a death, often resulting in you repeating the same information to each one. Our new Tell Us Once service, which will be offered to you at your death registration appointment, will mean that you can just tell us once and we will in turn, on your behalf, notify organisations that participate in the scheme. This new service is open to all death registrations where the deceased had a permanent home address within the County of Surrey.

You are required to bring additional documents if you wish to participate in this new scheme - details of what you may need can be found on our Tell Us Once page.

Who can register a death?

It is usual for a relative of the deceased to register the death. However, if a relative is not available, someone else may register the death, such as someone present at the death, the person responsible for instructing the funeral directors or, in the case of a hospital, care or nursing home death, a manager from that establishment.

What happens at the register office?

When you go to the registrar you should take all these:

• The Medical Certificate of cause of death
• The deceased's medical card, if possible
• The deceased's birth and marriage or civil partnership certificates, if available

You should tell the registrar

• The date and place of death
• The deceased's last (usual) address
• The deceased's full name and surname (and the maiden surname if the deceased was a woman who had married)
• The deceased's date and place of birth (town and county if born in the UK, and country if born abroad)
• The deceased's occupation and the name and occupation of their spouse or civil partner
• Whether the deceased was getting a pension or allowance from public funds
• If the deceased was married or a civil partner, the date of birth of the surviving widow, widower or civil partner

The registrar who registers the death will give you:

• A Certificate for Burial or Cremation (known as the Green Form) unless the coroner has issued an Order for Burial (form 101) or a Certificate for Cremation (form E). These give permission for the body to be buried or for an application for cremation to be made. It should be taken to the funeral director so that the funeral can be held.
• A Certificate of Registration of Death (form BD8(rev)). This is for Social Security purposes only. Read the information on the back of the certificate. If any of it applies, fill in the certificate and send the form to your Pension Centre or your local Jobcentre plus office.
• No Death Certifcates are issued free of charge. If you require Death Certificates, these may be purchased from the registrar for a fee. You can pay for certificates by debit/credit card, cash, cheque or postal order. You will need these certificates to deal with the deceased’s finances, for example, banks and insurance companies will probably need a death certificate to allow you to close and access accounts and funds. Most organisations will ask you to send an original certificate to them and will not accept a photocopy; however, you may wish to request that they return the certificate to you after they have processed it.

Please don’t worry if you later decide that you need additional copies of the death certificate - it is possible to purchase more from the register office where you registered the death.