When the worst happens, those left behind have an often-bewildering assortment of responsibilities which can cause confusion and stress at a time when you perhaps just feel the world could leave you to grieve.
A person’s death must usually be registered by taking the deceased’s medical certificate to a Register Office within five days, and if you go to your local Register Office you’ll be given a certificate of registration of death (you’ll need this death certificate to administrate paperwork such as pensions and/or benefits) and a certificate for burial or cremation (sometimes known as the ‘green certificate’ or the ‘green form’).
You’ll also need one or more copies of the death certificate because organisations such as council services, banks and utility services may need one in order to close accounts and the like.
In fact, there may be a bewildering amount of organisations that need to be informed of a person’s death (a more in-depth list is featured in our ‘Death in the Family’ Frequently Asked Questions), although you may not be the person designated to do this because if the deceased has left a Will then they’ll almost certainly have named an executor to deal with the legal arrangements that follow their death.