Practical
Death certificates, and how many you need
It is a dull question with a real answer, and getting it right at the start saves several weeks later. Almost every family orders too few.
The number
Ten is the number we suggest
Families almost always order too few, and the second order is slower and costs more than the first. Ten is the number we suggest for an ordinary estate; fewer if there is genuinely nothing to settle, more if there is property in more than one state.
Families order too few for an understandable reason: in the first week nobody has any idea how many organisations are going to want one. The list is longer than anybody expects, every one of them keeps the copy it is given, and the ones that ask are usually the ones that will not move until they have it.
The reason to over-order slightly rather than exactly is arithmetic rather than caution. A second order is a fresh application, it goes to the back of the same queue as everybody else's first order, and it arrives weeks after the point at which somebody needed it. Ordering a few more than you think at the beginning is the cheaper mistake, and it is the one we would rather you made.
Order fewer if there is genuinely nothing to settle — no property, no policies, one account. Order more if there is property in more than one state, several insurers, or a will that is going to a court.
Who asks
Every one of these keeps the copy you give it
This is the list that explains the number. It is not exhaustive and it is not a prediction about your family; it is the ordinary shape of an estate, and it is what the suggestion above is counted from.
| Who wants one | How many |
|---|---|
| Each bank or credit union | One each. They keep it. |
| Each life insurance policy | One each, and they will not take a photocopy. |
| Pensions and retirement accounts | One each. |
| The Social Security Administration | Usually handled by us, but keep one for the file. |
| Veterans' claims | One, and often the discharge papers with it. |
| Transferring a vehicle title | One. |
| Transferring or selling property | One, sometimes two. |
| Probate, if there is any | At least one, and the court may keep it. |
| Brokerage and investment accounts | One each. |
| Closing utility and telephone accounts | Rarely. Most will take a photocopy or nothing at all. |
Two rows on that table are the ones families miss. Each life insurance policy needs its own, so a person with three policies has already used three; and anything that involves a court is capable of keeping one for good. Utilities and telephone accounts, at the other end, rarely want one at all.
What a certified copy is
A photocopy is not one, and almost nobody accepts one
A photocopy is not a certified copy and almost nobody accepts one. Certified copies come from the city, not from us — we order them for you and pass on what they cost.
A certified copy is issued by the city from the registered record, with the city's own mark on it. It is not a copy of a copy and it cannot be made on a machine in an office. That is precisely why banks and insurers ask for one: the point of the document is that the organisation looking at it did not have to take anybody's word for anything.
We order them on your behalf when we file, and they cost what the city charges for them. That is a cash advance rather than a service of ours — we pay it out and it goes on the bill at what it cost, with nothing added to it, exactly like flowers, notices or a clergy fee.
Keep one copy for yourselves and do not lend it. The copy that goes out to be helpful is the copy that is not there in March when somebody needs it.
Where the information comes from
The certificate is filled in from what the family tells us
The medical part comes from a doctor or the Medical Examiner. Everything else on the form comes from you, at the arrangement meeting, and it is asked for in one sitting rather than in six telephone calls over a fortnight.
What we will ask you for
Bring what you can find and say plainly what you do not know. Not knowing is ordinary, and a gap we can work on is better than a guess that gets registered.
Date and place of birth
The town and the country, for the death certificate.
Their parents' names
Including their mother's name before marriage. This is the one that catches families out.
Social Security number
For the certificate and for notifying the federal government.
Marital status
And the surviving spouse's name, if there is one.
Occupation and industry
Even if they retired thirty years ago. The certificate asks.
Level of education
The certificate asks this too, and nobody expects it.
Military service
If they served, the discharge papers unlock several things at no cost.
Clothing
Something to dress them in, if there is to be a viewing.
Some of it is easy and some of it surprises people every single time. A mother's name before marriage is the question that stops most families in the room, and level of education is the one nobody has ever been asked for before. Neither is a test. If nobody in the family knows, say so, and we will work out where the answer can be found.
If something on it is wrong
It is far easier to catch before it is filed than after
Look at the detail while it is still on our table. We file the death certificate with the city, electronically, once the medical part is signed. This is the step everything else waits on. That order is the opportunity: everything you tell us is written down at the arrangement meeting, and the meeting happens before anything is registered anywhere.
So read the names back out loud, including the ones you are certain of. Middle names, the spelling a person actually used rather than the one on an old document, a mother's name written as it was before marriage rather than after, a date of birth that everybody remembers slightly differently. A minute spent on that at the table is the cheapest minute in this whole process.
A mistake found afterwards is not the end of anything. Records can be corrected, the correction is applied for from the office that issued the certificate, and it is neither instant nor difficult. What it is, is slow — and every certified copy already ordered is a copy with the error on it, so a correction usually means ordering again as well. That is the whole of the reason this page asks you to check twice.
If you spot something after you have taken the copies away, tell us rather than an insurer. We will tell you what has to be done and who has to do it, and we will say plainly if it is a thing we cannot do for you.
If you are holding a certificate and something on it looks wrong
Ring before you send it anywhere. It is a great deal easier to sort out a detail while the copies are still in the envelope than after they have gone out to the banks and the insurers.