Service Update
Death registrations continue to be registered. To make an appointment to register a death, please phone 03451 55 00 77 or via your Funeral Director.
You can register a death remotely by a telephone appointment with a Registrar. A telephone appointment is perhaps more convenient as your appointment can be done in the comfort of your own home. If you would prefer to come into an office, you can register the death at one of the following offices – Cupar, Dunfermline, Glenrothes or Kirkcaldy.
A death occurring in Scotland must be registered within eight days.
When someone dies in Scotland, you can register their death anywhere in Scotland. No burial or cremation can take place without the death having first been registered.
When you register a death, you will be issued with:
- A free abbreviated death certificate
- A Certificate of Registration of Death (Form 14), to be given to the funeral director so that the funeral can go ahead
To register a death you will need:
- Medical Certificate of Cause of Death issued by doctor or hospital.
It is helpful if you can provide the deceased person's:
- Birth certificate
- Marriage certificate(s)
- Medical card
Due to the introduction of the ‘Certification of Death (Scotland) Act 2011’, the death you are registering may be selected for medical review and you may not immediately be able to complete the death registration. You can still make provisional funeral arrangements while the medical review is underway, however, the funeral cannot take place until the medical review has been completed. The registrar will explain the review process and timescales in more detail at your appointment. You can read more about the medical review process by visiting healthcareimprovementscotland.org
When you are registering a death, the registrar will be able to help you with advice about the certificates you might need, and about other Council services.
You can also use our bereavement service Tell Us Once which informs many departments of both local and central government when someone has died. This service is usually carried out at the death registration appointment. To use this service, please have the following information available:
- Deceased person's National Insurance number
- Their passport or passport number (if they had one)
- Their driving licence or driving licence number (if they had one)
- Surviving spouse's National Insurance number
- Their Blue Badge
This can be a difficult time for you and we all want to make things as straightforward as possible, so please ask if we can help in any way.
Costs: There is no charge to register a death. However, if you want a full death certificate, which shows the cause(s) of death, this costs £10 at the time of registration.
Useful Links
| Contact: | Registration of births, deaths, marriages and civil partnerships (lines open 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.) |
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| Tel: | 03451 55 00 77 |