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§ 28-31 Civil Status Act (PStG)

§ Section 38 Civil Status Ordinance (PStV)

You are obliged to report the death of a person to the registry office on the third working day following the death at the latest.

The death of a person must be reported to the registry office in whose jurisdiction the death occurred no later than the third working day following the death.

Notification obligation:

If the death occurs in an institution (hospital, retirement or nursing home or other institution), the provider of the institution is obliged to report the death in writing to the registry office.

If the death occurs outside an institution (hospital, retirement or nursing home or other institution), any person who lived with the deceased in the same household, the person in whose home the death occurred and any other person who was present at the death or is aware of the death from their own knowledge is obliged to report the death orally or in writing. A funeral home may also be entrusted with the notification.

When reporting a death, you should send the registry office

• the birth certificate,
• proof of the last place of residence (e.g. identity card, registration certificate, tenancy agreement, electricity bill or comparable documents),
• if applicable, the marriage or civil partnership certificate of the last marriage or civil partnership and, if applicable, proof of dissolution, and
• the medical certificate of the death

of the deceased.

You may not need to submit the birth certificate if the registration details of the deceased's birth can be found on a marriage or civil partnership certificate. Please contact the relevant registry office for more information.

The registry office may request the submission of further documents if this is necessary.

All documents must be originals. For foreign-language documents, the registry office generally requires complete translations into German, prepared by a publicly appointed and sworn translator in Germany. Foreign documents often also require certification by the competent foreign authority. In such a case, the registry office will draw your attention to this.

If the death did not occur in a hospital, retirement or nursing home or other institution, you are listed in the following order as a person

• who lived with the deceased in the same household,
• in whose home the death occurred, or
• who was present at the death or is aware of the death from their own knowledge,

is obliged to report the death verbally or in writing.

You can also instruct a funeral home to make the notification.

In the case of deaths in hospitals, retirement and nursing homes and other facilities, the obligation to report the death is the responsibility of the facility operator

There are no fees for the notification of a death and the certification in the death register.

You, an institution or the funeral home you have commissioned will report the death to the relevant registry office.

If the death occurred in hospital, as a relative you contact a funeral director in consultation with the hospital staff.

The doctor/hospital will issue a death certificate and usually give it to the mortician.

If the death did not take place in a hospital, retirement or nursing home or other institution, you, as the aforementioned obligated persons, notify the competent registry office of the death verbally or in writing, submitting the necessary documents, or instruct the mortician to do so.

If you have instructed the mortician to make the notification, the mortician will, with your cooperation, prepare a written notification of death including all family-related information, compile the documents required for the notification and hand them over to the registry office.

You must hand over all the necessary documents.

The registry office will check the submitted documents for authenticity and the information on the documents for completeness.

The death is recorded in the death register. If requested, the registry office will issue death certificates from the register.

Depending on the individual case.

The death of a person must be reported to the registry office in whose jurisdiction the person died no later than the third working day following the death.

• The death of a person must be reported.
• Notification must be made no later than the third working day following the death.
• No fees are payable.
• Competent authority: Registry office in whose jurisdiction the person died