Bereavement

Notification of death at the registry office

A death must be reported to the registry office in whose district the person died for certification by no later than the third working day after the date of death.

The person who lived with the deceased is first obliged to report the matter. However, a funeral service can also be commissioned.

Further information can be obtained from the relevant registry office or, if you come from Bavaria, from the Bavarian Administration Service.

Required Documents

Single deceased people

certified copy of the birth register (not older than 6 months)

Married deceased people

Marriage certificate or certified printout from the marriage register

Divorced/widowed deceased persons

Marriage certificate with a note about the dissolution of the marriage
Valid passport or ID card
Residence certificate

Additional documents may be required; further information can be obtained from the relevant registry office.

Fees

Certification of a death is free of charge in most registry offices.

The issuance of further documents is subject to a fee.

You will receive the death certificate directly from the registry office where the death was recorded.

The fees for the death certificate vary from state to state and are approximately €7.50 – €12.00.

If you do not want to contact the registry office in person, you can also use our paid online form to request death certificates.

Corpse passport

Germany requires an official corpse passport for the cross-border transport of a corpse. After checking the death certificate, if necessary after consulting the doctor who last treated the deceased, inspecting the body again and checking that it was properly placed in the coffin, as well as a certificate from the responsible medical officer, the body pass is issued by the local regulatory authority.

In the event of a death from a reportable communicable disease in accordance with the Infection Protection Act, the health authority must decide, depending on the circumstances of the case, whether the issuance of the corpse pass should be refused due to the risk of spread. This official certificate is generally not issued for the transport of the corpses of persons who have died of a disease that poses a threat to the public. In the event of death due to another communicable disease, this circumstance alone cannot lead to concerns about transport.

Further information can be obtained from the relevant registry office.