Farra is a death administration assistant for UK families. Get step-by-step guidance for registering a death, applying for probate, notifying banks, and managing bereavement admin. From essential documents to practical checklists, Farra simplifies estate paperwork and funeral-related tasks so you can focus on what matters.
Register within five days at a local register office. Bring the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death. You receive the Death Certificate and the Certificate for Burial or Cremation. Request multiple certified copies. The Tell Us Once service allows simultaneous notification of multiple government departments.
In Northern Ireland, deaths must be registered within five days of the date of death. This matches the registration window in England and Wales. The registration must be completed at the local register office for the district where the death occurred.
The funeral cannot proceed until registration is complete and the Certificate for Burial or Cremation has been issued to the funeral director. In practice, families usually register as quickly as possible so that funeral arrangements can proceed.
If the death has been referred to the Coroner (Northern Ireland's equivalent of the Procurator Fiscal in Scotland), registration may be delayed until the Coroner has confirmed the cause of death. The Coroner's office will advise the family on the expected timeline.
The person responsible for registering the death is called the "informant". In Northern Ireland, the informant may be:
The informant must attend the register office in person — unlike some other administrative processes, death registration in Northern Ireland cannot generally be completed online or by post.
Register at the local register office for the district where the death occurred. Northern Ireland has register offices across each of its eleven council districts. You can find the relevant office through the nidirect website or by contacting your local district council.
If the death occurred in hospital, the hospital bereavement team will normally advise on the registration process and may be able to assist with arranging an appointment at the relevant register office.
You must bring to the register office:
You should also bring:
The more information you can provide, the more complete and accurate the registration will be. Errors in the death certificate must be corrected through a formal process.
Not sure if you need probate?
1 in 3 applications are sent back. In under 2 minutes, we'll tell you whether you need it and what to do next.
The official certified copy of the entry in the death register. You will need multiple copies — each bank, insurance company, and government department will typically need its own copy. Purchase several copies at registration (each is available for a small fee); additional copies can be obtained later from the General Register Office for Northern Ireland (GRO NI).
This document is given to the funeral director and authorises the burial or cremation to proceed. The funeral cannot take place without this certificate.
If you use the Tell Us Once service, the registrar will provide a reference number to complete the notification online or by phone.
Tell Us Once is a government service available in Northern Ireland that lets you report a death to multiple government departments and local council services in a single step. At registration, the registrar can either complete the notification for you immediately or provide a reference number for you to complete it yourself online or by phone.
Tell Us Once notifies:
Tell Us Once does not notify banks and financial institutions — for those, the Death Notification Service can be used to notify multiple banks simultaneously.
Some deaths in Northern Ireland must be reported to the Coroner — including sudden or unexplained deaths, deaths where the cause is unknown, deaths occurring during an operation or anaesthesia, and deaths that may have resulted from an accident or violence.
Where a death is referred to the Coroner, the doctor cannot issue the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death until the Coroner is satisfied with the cause of death. A post-mortem examination may be ordered. Once the Coroner releases the body and provides a certificate, registration can proceed.
The Coroner in Northern Ireland operates from the Coroner's Court in Belfast and deals with cases across Northern Ireland.
After registering the death, the main estate administration steps are:
For a comprehensive overview of the estate administration process, see our estate administration checklist.
Farra helps families and executors manage estate administration across the UK, including Northern Ireland.
1 in 3 probate applications are sent back.
Answer 5 questions in under 2 minutes. We'll tell you whether you need probate, which route to take, and the mistake most people make at this stage.
Free to check · 2 minutes · No account needed · £179 for your full probate pack
Related guides