Everything about issuing the death certificate
What is a death certificate
By definition stated in the text of the law, it is a registry document confirming the death of a citizen.
It has its own standardized form and includes the following information:
- First and last name of the deceased
- Date of birth of the deceased
- Place and date of death
- Place of permanent residence at the time of death
- Information about any spouse of the deceased
Who issues the death certificate?
The death certificate is issued by the register office of the district where the person died, was found or was unloaded from a conveyance. This register office will first receive an doctor’s inspection sheet of the deceased, or in some cases the court’s decision about declared death in absentia. Then, the office will make a record to the death book. Only then it is possible to issue the death certificate to the bereaved.
In the case that a person died abroad, it is necessary to ask for a record to the death book at any register office in the Czech Republic or at any embassy of the Czech Republic abroad. This record will then be processed by a special registry office in Brno.
How to obtain the death certificate
After the death of a person, everything is usually arranged by a funeral home. The staff will take necessary documentation (a list of which you may find below) and send everything to a relevant register office. If you are arranging the death certificate by yourself, you simply need to contact a register office and submit proper documentation.
After a record to the death book is made, the register office will issue a death certificate and mail it to the hands of a designated person (the one, who arranged the funeral). In the case that the bereaved want to pick up the death certificate personally at the register office, they will need to show an ID and prove an authorisation for death certificate release.
Who can obtain the death certificate
The register office will release the death certificate to:
- A spouse
- Parents, grandparents, grandchildren, children, siblings
- A designated representative of a person whom the record concerns (the deceased)
- A person, who proves legal interest in the death certificate or whom at the time of the death, lived with the deceased in common household, or arranges the funeral
According to the law, the death certificate may also be released to:
- A person, who proves it is necessary for their rights towards the state or any district
- For administrative needs of state authority or district authority
- Statutory authority of a church or clergymen designated by it, if it concerns records kept by these churches up to 31st December 1949.
What you need to show
- An ID, proving your identity
- A public certificate (certificate of birth, of marriage, baptism etc.) or any certificate, from which it would be possible to deduce that the death concerns your family members or your siblings, or which will prove that it is essential to exercise the rights of the deceased towards the state or district authorities
- A verified proxy, if the request is being placed by an authorised representative
How long does it take to receive the death certificate
The death certificate is released in a 30-day time period, starting at the day the register office obtained the inspection sheet from a doctor or a medical centre. (In more complicated cases, the time period is 60 days.)
How much does it cost to issue a death certificate
You do not pay any fee for issuing an original death certificate from a register office.
Death certificate duplicate
If a death certificate, a birth certificate or a marriage certificate is lost, the register office may issue its duplicate. The request may be placed by the same people, governed by the same conditions, as mentioned above. For a release of the duplicate, there is a fee of 100, – CZK due to the register office (in cash or a letter cheque).
We will happily provide all the information at our nonstop phoneline of our funeral home +420 725 900 800
