Register a death

The appointment will take approximately 30 minutes.

You will need to tell the registrar:

• the date and place of death
• the full name that the person who died was using at the time of their death and details of any other names they might have been known by
• the date and place of birth
• their occupation and whether or not they were retired
• their current home address
• if the person who died was a married woman or widow, her maiden surname (what her surname was before she was married) and the full name and occupation of her husband.
• in the case of a man, the name and occupation of his wife.
• in the case of a couple who have registered their civil partnership, the partner's name and occupation.
• your full name and address and your relationship to the person who has died.

You will also be asked the following information for government statistics:

• was the person who died single, married, widowed, divorced, a civil partner, surviving civil partner or former civil partner?
• is their spouse or civil partner still alive? If so, what is their date of birth?
• how long did they stay in hospital or in another establishment (a hospice for example)?
• was the person under 75?
• what industry did they work in and what position did they hold?
• did they get a pension paid from government funds? This includes the civil service, teachers, armed forces and war widows. This does not include the state pension or pension credits.
• the person's NHS number found on their medical card (if available).

You will need to sign the completed register entry to confirm that all the information is correct.

There is no charge for registering a death.

• ​the medical certificate of cause of death issued by the doctor. If there has been a post mortem, the coroner will send this directly to the registrar
• birth and marriage or civil partnership certificates if these are available
• disabled parking 'Blue Badge' and concessionary bus pass if applicable
• a method of payment for copies of the death certificate – credit or debit card (preferred), cash or cheque book.

The accuracy of the registration can be improved by bringing some extra identification documents with you. This might be a passport or driving licence.

Your appointment to register a death can take place at any one of our registration offices:

• Corby Registration Office
• Daventry Registration Office
• Kettering Registration Office
• Northampton Registration Office
• Oundle Registration Office
• Towcester Registration Office
• Wellingborough Registration Office

​If the death happened in Northamptonshire but you can't attend an appointment here, then you can give the details to any registrar in England and Wales. The details will be sent to Northamptonshire Registration Service, who will register the death. This is called registration by declaration.

​Sometimes mistakes can be made on a certificate that we issue. It may be possible to correct that mistake, but we can only do so to registrations that were originally made in Northamptonshire.

What does it cost?

If it is our mistake then there is no charge, but please be aware that during your appointment the registrar will ask you to check the information carefully and sign the register entry to say it's correct (apart from the section recording the deceased's cause of death).

If it is the customer's mistake then the fee to consider the correction application will be up to £90. Please note that consideration does not guarantee that the correction application will be accepted.

How do I get it changed?

If you think that information on a birth, death, marriage or civil partnership certificate is wrong, you will need to provide evidence from the time of the registration showing the correct information.

When you have collected the evidence that you need to support your request for a correction, please email registrationservice@northamptonshire.gov.uk and include the following information:

• your name, address, telephone number and email address
• the name(s), date and type of certificate that you would like correcting
• details of the correction to be made
• details of the evidence that you will be submitting to support your request

Depending on the circumstances, the correction may or may not be simple to make, so we will contact you to discuss your case in more detail and explain what happens next.