1. DEATH CERTIFICATE
Required in all cases:
- Coroner's case: the Coroner issues a death certificate.
- A stillbirth or infant death within 28 days of birth: a Medical Certificate of Fetal & Neonatal Death (HP4721)
- All other deaths: a Medical Certificate of Causes of Death (Form HP4720).
Cremation is an irreversible process.
A cremated body cannot be examined, even for DNA analysis.
The law requires extra checks and documentation before cremation.
Cremation Certificates
- Coroner's case: the Coroner issues a Form C.
- A stillbirth (death in utero, before birth), can be cremated without extra certificates.
- In all other deaths, a certifying practitioner also issues a Cremation Certificate (Form B)
Extra certificates also required:
All Cremations (apart from stillbirths) also require:
- A certificate that there is no battery-powered device that could explode in a cremator: Form AB
- The family or executor complete an application form for cremation (Form A).
- After checking these certificates, a Medical Referee issues a Permission to Cremate (Form F)
The cremation certificates (Forms B or C as well as AB and A) and Permission (Form F) are taken with the body to the crematorium.
The crematorium must store these certificates and keep records of each cremation.
3. REGISTERING THE DEATH
The Funeral Director later registers the death with the Ministry of Health, using the Medical Certificate of Causes of Death.