How many death certificates do I need? A simple way to work it out

It is the question almost nobody thinks to ask until they are already at the register office, and almost everybody wishes they had asked more of. How many death certificates do you actually need? The short answer: most families need between four and eight, and the right number is one certified copy for every organisation that will ask for its own.

Why every organisation wants its own copy

Each bank, pension provider and insurer is a separate legal organisation. When you notify one of a death, they usually keep the certificate you send — they are confirming the death for their own records, not passing it on. That is why the same copy cannot simply be reused everywhere.

It is also why people get caught out. The first bank takes a copy, the second one asks for an original too, and by the time the pension provider and the life insurer have asked, the spare copies have run out and every extra one now has to be ordered by post.

Who needs one, and who does not

You will typically need a certified copy for: each bank or building society holding an account in the person's sole name, each private or workplace pension provider, any life insurance policy, and the probate application if you are applying for a grant.

Some of these have alternatives. The Death Notification Service lets you notify several major banks and building societies at once online, and many will then accept a certified photocopy of the certificate instead of a fresh original — always ask before ordering more. Some organisations will accept a photocopy if it has been certified by a solicitor. Utilities, phone and broadband providers almost never need a certificate at all; a letter with the date of death and your authority as executor or next of kin is usually enough.

Joint accounts usually pass to the surviving account holder automatically, and often only need a copy of the death certificate for their records rather than a formal closure.

So how many should you order?

Before the appointment, make a short list: every bank account, pension, insurance policy and investment you know of. Count one copy per organisation, then add two spares — one for anything you have not discovered yet, and one to keep in your own file. For a typical estate with two or three accounts, one pension and one insurer, that lands somewhere between four and eight copies. Executors dealing with a house, several accounts and a business may want ten.

Ordering more later is not a disaster — extra copies cost £12.50 each from the General Register Office and take a few days to arrive — but it is slower and more expensive than ordering the right number while you are already standing at the register office.

Order them at the registration appointment

Copies bought at the registration appointment are cheaper than copies ordered afterwards from the General Register Office. They are printed while you wait and are identical for legal purposes: every copy is a certified extract from the same register entry, and no organisation can tell the difference between the 'first' certificate and the tenth.

One warning: the register office can only issue certificates once the medical examiner has confirmed the cause of death and told the registrar you can book the appointment. Do not order certificates before the death is registered — there is nothing to certify yet.

Two free ways to reduce the number you need

Tell Us Once, offered at the registration appointment, notifies most government departments in one go — HMRC, DWP, the DVLA, the Passport Office and the local council. Those departments will not each demand their own certificate, which quietly removes several potential copies from your list.

The Death Notification Service does the same for participating banks: one online notification reaches several of them at once, and some will close the account with just a photocopy or no certificate at all. Neither service covers private pensions or insurers, so those still need their own copies.

If you would rather be told one thing at a time, including how many copies to order before you reach the register office, the free step-by-step guide on this site walks you through the whole process in order and keeps every reference number in one place.