Registering a Death in Poland: Karta Zgonu, Akt Zgonu, and the USC Process

Two Documents, Two Different Purposes

The Polish death registration system involves two documents that people constantly confuse: the karta zgonu and the akt zgonu. They serve entirely different functions, and you need both.

The karta zgonu (death card) is the medical document. A physician issues it after pronouncing the death. It authorises the funeral home to legally transport the body. Without it, the remains cannot be moved.

The akt zgonu (death certificate) is the civil document. The Civil Registry Office (Urząd Stanu Cywilnego — USC) issues it after you register the death. It's what you need for the cemetery, the bank, insurance claims, and the ZUS funeral allowance application.

Getting the Karta Zgonu

How you get this depends entirely on where the death happened:

At home: Call the deceased's primary care physician (lekarz rodzinny) during weekday office hours. Outside office hours, weekends, or holidays, call 112 or 999 for emergency medical services. The responding doctor examines the body and issues the karta zgonu in a single physical copy.

In hospital or care facility: The ward physician or facility administration generates the karta zgonu automatically.

Sudden or suspicious death: The police and prosecutor are notified. The body goes to the Forensic Medicine Department (Zakład Medycyny Sądowej) for autopsy. The forensic pathologist issues the karta zgonu, which can add several days to the timeline.

The karta zgonu exists in one original copy. Treat it like cash — lose it and you have a serious problem.

Filing at the USC

With the karta zgonu in hand, go to the USC in the municipality where the death physically occurred. This is important: not where the person lived, but where they died. If your mother died in a Warsaw hospital but lived in Kraków, you file in Warsaw.

What to bring:

• The original karta zgonu
• The deceased's identity document (dowód osobisty or passport)
• Your own valid ID

Filing deadlines:

• Standard deaths: within 3 days of the karta zgonu being issued
• Deaths from infectious disease: within 24 hours

The USC director registers the entry in the state civil registry. This automatically invalidates the deceased's ID card and initiates their unregistration (wymeldowanie).

The Death Certificate (Akt Zgonu)

After registration, you receive one free shortened copy (odpis skrócony) of the death certificate. This is the document you'll use for everything that follows.

You'll almost certainly need more than one copy. Additional shortened copies cost PLN 22 each. An unabridged certificate (odpis zupełny) costs PLN 33 and includes fuller details — useful for estate proceedings or international use.

Order extra copies at the time of registration. Going back to the USC is one more trip you don't need during a funeral week.

Who Can Access Medical Records After Death

Polish law gives designated close relatives (osoba bliska) the right to access the deceased's medical records. This includes:

• The surviving spouse
• Relatives by blood or marriage up to the second degree in the direct line (children, parents, grandparents, grandchildren)
• Legal representatives or cohabiting partners

The medical facility must grant access unless the patient explicitly filed a written objection while alive. If multiple relatives dispute access, the local civil court resolves the conflict.

Common Stumbling Points

The weekend gap. If someone dies on a Friday evening, the USC's opening hours may affect when you can attend in person. The funeral home can still transport and refrigerate the body; contact the USC or funeral home promptly about meeting the statutory three-day window.

Delegation to the funeral home. Many families don't realise that the funeral home can handle the USC registration for you under a power of attorney. If you're overwhelmed or travelling from abroad, this is worth asking about — most zakłady pogrzebowe offer this as a standard service.

International deaths. If a Polish citizen dies abroad, you need the foreign death certificate translated by a sworn translator (tłumacz przysięgły) and the applicable burial and consular transport permits before you can proceed with a burial in Poland. The Catholic Funeral — Poland guide covers the full repatriation document chain, including the consular transit permit.

The guide's dedicated chapter on death registration includes a document tracker worksheet you can fill in as each piece arrives, so nothing falls through the cracks during the most disorienting days of the process.