What to Do After Someone Dies in Wales: A Step-by-Step Checklist

The first days after a death in Wales involve a sequence of legal steps that must happen in a specific order. You cannot register the death before the Medical Examiner has completed their review. You cannot bury or cremate before the death is registered and the relevant authorization documents are in place. You cannot apply for probate before the death certificate is issued.

None of this is intuitive. Government guidance is scattered across different websites and agencies. This checklist sets out what needs to happen, in order, for the first week and beyond.

Immediately After the Death

If the death happened at home:

Call 999 if there is any possibility the death was not expected or if you are unsure. Paramedics will attend and contact a doctor. If the death was expected — the person was under palliative care or had a terminal diagnosis — call the person's GP or their palliative care team. The GP needs to attend or arrange for a doctor to attend to verify the death.

If the person was under the care of a hospice team, call the hospice directly. They have bereavement liaison staff who manage the immediate process.

Do not move the person or disturb the room if the death appears sudden or unexplained. In that situation, the police may need to attend alongside a doctor.

If the death happened in hospital:

The hospital will notify the family and transfer the person to the mortuary. A hospital bereavement officer will contact you, usually within 24 hours, to begin the administrative process and to arrange the Medical Examiner's review.

Whoever holds them: You can contact a funeral director at any point after the death to arrange collection of the body, but you do not need to make any funeral decisions immediately. Do not feel pressured to choose a specific funeral director while in the first moments of shock. The body will be held safely in a hospital mortuary or funeral director's care while you take the time you need.

The Medical Examiner Stage

Before a death can be registered in Wales, the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) must be reviewed and authorized by an NHS Medical Examiner. This step is mandatory for all deaths that are not referred to a coroner.

The ME or their officer will contact the family — this is not optional. They will review the medical records, propose or confirm the cause of death, and speak with you about whether you have any questions or concerns about the care the person received. If you have any concerns, this is the right moment to raise them. The ME's role includes capturing family feedback as part of the NHS quality process.

Once the ME has completed the review, they transmit the MCCD directly to the local registrar. The 5-day registration deadline starts from the point the registrar receives the MCCD, not from the date of death.

If the coroner is involved: If the death was sudden, violent, accidental, or the cause is unknown, the death will be referred to HM Coroner rather than going through the ME. The coroner will conduct their own investigation. The registration timeline is suspended until the coroner provides clearance.

Registering the Death

Register the death at the local Register Office covering the area where the death occurred. You must do this within 5 days of the registrar receiving the MCCD.

What to bring:

• The registrar will already have the MCCD — you do not bring a paper certificate, but confirm with the hospital or ME office that it has been sent
• Your own photo ID (passport or driving licence)
• The deceased's birth certificate if available
• Marriage or civil partnership certificate if applicable
• Any documentation confirming the deceased's GP, address, and occupation

At the appointment, the registrar records the death formally and issues:

• Certified copies of the death entry (purchase as many as you need at £12.50 each — you will need 5 to 10 for banks, insurance, probate, pension claims, and transfers)
• The Certificate of Authority for Burial ("green form") if burial is planned
• The Tell Us Once reference number

Welsh language: You have the right to conduct the registration in Welsh and to receive bilingual (Welsh and English) death certificates. Inform the registrar at the start of the appointment.

Tell Us Once: Do This Immediately After Registration

The registrar will give you a 12-digit reference number for the Tell Us Once service. Use it online or by phone as soon as possible. This notifies the DWP (which stops state pension payments), HMRC, DVLA, Passport Office, and your local Welsh council in a single transaction.

Using Tell Us Once prevents the overpayment of state benefits, which the DWP will aggressively recover from the estate if payments continue after death. It also reduces the number of certified death certificate copies you need to provide to individual agencies.

Choosing a Funeral Director and Setting the Date

Once registration is complete and you hold the green form (for burial) or have confirmation that the registrar has notified the crematorium (for cremation), you can schedule the funeral.

Before committing to a funeral director:

• Ask for their Standardised Price List — this is a legal requirement under the CMA Funerals Market Investigation Order 2021 and must be displayed in their window and on their website
• Get an itemized written quote before signing anything
• Ask specifically what the cremation or burial fee is and whether this is passed through at cost (it should be)
• Compare at least two providers

You do not have to use an embalming service. There is no legal requirement for embalming for standard burials or cremations in Wales.

Documents Needed for Burial or Cremation

For burial:

• Certificate of Authority for Burial (green form) — issued by the registrar after registration
• After the burial: the bottom slip of the green form must be returned to the registrar within 96 hours. The funeral director or cemetery typically handles this, but confirm who is responsible.

For cremation:

• Cremation Form 1 — completed by you and the funeral director together. This replaces the old Forms 4 and 5 (abolished September 2024). There is no longer any doctor's fee for this.
• If a coroner was involved: the coroner's Form 6 authorizes cremation directly

If the deceased had a prepaid funeral plan: Locate the plan documents and check whether the provider is on the FCA's authorized register. Plans sold after July 2022 by an unauthorized provider are criminal. See our guide on prepaid funeral plans in Wales for how to verify and claim.

Financial Steps in the First Week

Notify banks and financial institutions. Bring certified death certificates to each bank. Most banks will freeze the deceased's accounts immediately and provide access only to the executor or administrator.

Apply for Bereavement Support Payment if eligible. This is available to surviving spouses or civil partners. The standard rate is a £2,500 lump sum plus £100 per month for 18 months; the higher rate (£3,500 lump sum plus £350 per month) applies if you are receiving Child Benefit or were pregnant at time of the death. Apply through the DWP bereavement benefits line as early as possible — do not delay, as backdating is limited.

Check for DWP Funeral Expenses Payment eligibility. If you are on Universal Credit, Income Support, Pension Credit, or another qualifying benefit, you may be entitled to a contribution toward funeral costs. The application uses form SF200 and must be made within 3 months of the funeral.

Welsh-specific: If the deceased was a child under 18, contact the local authority bereavement services team to access the free facility fees and £500 Child Funeral Fund contribution. See our full guide on child funeral funding in Wales.

Estate Administration: Starting the Process

Once immediate funeral arrangements are in hand, the executor or administrator of the estate needs to:

1. Locate the Will (if one exists)
2. Identify and value the assets
3. Determine whether probate is needed (generally yes if the estate has property, significant savings, or investments requiring institutional proof of authority)
4. Consider applying for probate before July 2026 — the application fee increases from £300 to £526 from July 2026. The cost of certified probate copies decreases from £16 to £2 concurrently.

For bilingual or Welsh-language probate applications, route paper applications to the Cardiff Probate Registry of Wales (3rd Floor, Cardiff Magistrates Court), not Newcastle. Sending a Welsh application to Newcastle causes significant delays.

What Can Wait

Not everything needs to happen in the first week. The following can typically wait until after the funeral:

• Cancelling subscriptions and memberships
• Notifying private pension providers (beyond the Tell Us Once notification to the DWP)
• Sorting the person's belongings
• Listing the property for sale (cannot transfer until probate is granted if required)
• Completing the deceased's final tax return (12-month HMRC deadline from end of month of death)

For a complete step-by-step guide to the entire process in Wales — from death to estate settlement — including every form, every deadline, and the specific Welsh rules around bilingual certificates, NRW home burial compliance, the child funeral fund, and probate routing, see the Wales Funeral Laws & Consumer Rights Guide.

If you are the one coordinating everything and you feel overwhelmed: that is entirely normal. These administrative steps do not need to be perfect in the first 24 hours. The registrar, hospital bereavement officer, and a good funeral director can all help you understand which things genuinely cannot wait and which can.

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