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 eight days at any registration office in Scotland. The registrar needs the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death. You receive, free, a certificate of registration of death for the funeral director and an abbreviated extract. Full extracts — the death certificates institutions ask for — are bought separately. The process resembles England and Wales but has a longer registration window and different paperwork.
In Scotland, the law requires a death to be registered within eight days of the date of death. This contrasts with England and Wales, where registration is required within five days. The longer window in Scotland reflects the rural and remote nature of parts of Scotland, where families may need more time to travel to a registration office.
However, the funeral cannot proceed until the death has been registered and the certificate of registration of death has been issued — so in practice there is strong pressure to register promptly.
If there is to be a post-mortem examination (for example, where the death has been reported to the Procurator Fiscal — Scotland's equivalent of the Coroner), registration may be delayed until the cause of death has been confirmed.
The person registering the death is called the "informant". In Scotland, the informant may be:
In most cases, a close relative — surviving spouse, child, or parent — will register the death. Where no relative is available, the executor or a solicitor acting for the estate may register.
You can register a death at any registration office in Scotland. It does not need to be the district where the person lived or died. You will, though, need to know which registration office the doctor sent the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death to.
If the death occurred in hospital, the hospital will normally advise on the relevant registration office. For deaths at home, the local council will direct you to the appropriate office. Appointments can often be booked online through the local council website.
To register the death, you must produce:
You should also bring (but these are not strictly required):
Bringing as much information as possible will help the registrar complete the registration accurately. Errors in the death certificate are difficult (though not impossible) to correct later.
After registration, the registrar will provide:
This is what the funeral director needs before a burial or cremation can go ahead, and it is issued free of charge. It is not a death certificate, and organisations dealing with the estate will not usually accept it in place of one.
A shortened copy of the entry made in the national register, also free. Full extracts — the death certificates that banks, insurers, pension providers and HMRC ask for — are bought separately. Ordered through Scotland's People a certificate costs £12, with further copies of the same certificate £10 each; prices at a council registration office vary by council.
Scotland is covered by Tell Us Once, which reports the death to most government organisations in one go. The registrar will either complete it with you or give you a reference number to use yourself. See below.
"Tell Us Once" is a service available in Scotland that allows you to notify multiple government departments of the death in a single step. The registrar will provide details of the service at registration. It covers:
The Death Notification Service is a separate service for notifying banks and financial institutions — see our guide on the Death Notification Service. For guidance on notifying Scottish banks specifically, see our guide on notifying banks in Scotland.
In Scotland, sudden, unexplained, or suspicious deaths are reported to the Procurator Fiscal (Scotland's equivalent of the Coroner in England). The Procurator Fiscal may investigate and, if necessary, order a post-mortem examination. Registration is delayed until the Fiscal confirms the cause of death.
Where the Procurator Fiscal is involved, the family cannot proceed with the funeral until the investigation is complete and the Certificate for Burial or Cremation is issued. The Fiscal's office should keep the family informed of progress.
Once the death is registered, the next steps in the estate administration process are:
For a comprehensive overview of the estate administration process, see our estate administration checklist.