Apply for a death certificate

You need a death certificate if you want to prepare for the funeral, for example for the coffin or transfer, to settle the estate or to claim benefits from statutory or private insurance companies.

The death certificate contains

• the first names and surname of the deceased,
• birth names, if applicable,
• Place and date of birth,
• birth name, if applicable,
• the last place of residence
• the marital status,
• the first names and surnames of the spouse or civil partner at the time of death. This also applies if the other spouse or civil partner has died beforehand. This does not apply if the marriage was divorced or the civil partnership dissolved during their lifetime.
• the place of death and
• the time of death.

The notarised printout from the death register shows the entries in the death register.

An International Death Certificate is a multilingual death certificate, so you do not need a translation for use abroad. It is valid in all countries that have signed up to the Convention of 8 September 1976 on the issue of multilingual extracts from civil status records. You will find a list of the contracting states in the annex to the convention.