Ordering GRO Certificate without Death Date

[adavis]

Hi All,

After a question I posted on here a few weeks ago, I have decided to order a certificate for person that is most likely to be a relative. I am not a little stuck as the death was registered in 1995 and when I try to order the certificate on the GRO website it states I need the exact death date, which I dont have.

Is there anyway to order a copy of the certificate without this?

Thanks for any replies!

[Pam Downes]

Have you actually tried pressing 'submit/send/whatever' using just the year and the GRO reference number - registration district, volume number, etc? (Long time since I ordered a 'recent' death certificate, so I can't remember the procedure.)

If your person left a will you can get the date of death from the probate calendar.
https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/#wills

Just make sure you use the correct tab (1858-1995 or 1996 to present day) to search. Wills are not necessarily proved in the year of death.
The information is presented slightly differently in the 1858-1995 years - you get more details.

Pam

[Peter Goodey]

Is there anyway to order a copy of the certificate without this?

You can order by post.

[AntonyMMM]

For a 1995 death, the exact date of death is only a requirement in two circumstances ...

1) That the person was under 18 when they died ?

2) That you don't have the GRO reference ?

[jen1302]

you can contact the local BDM registrar office where they passed and order a certificate by phoning with the information online and pay by card if they cant find the cert they refund you iv'e used this method many times for my relatives.
You just need to give name & when passed ect

[Guy Etchells]

you can contact the local BDM registrar office where they passed and order a certificate by phoning with the information online and pay by card if they cant find the cert they refund you iv'e used this method many times for my relatives.
You just need to give name & when passed ect

You can also phone the GRO and order the certificate using the information they know, they will search a year either side of the year you give.
The online policy is simply office policy it is not a legal requirement, legally they have to supply a certificate for any entry held in the registers they have. You as the applicant only have to supply enough information for them to identify the entry.

If it is a rare name then little information is required if however it is a common name then the more relevant information the better.
Cheers
Guy

[Pam Downes]

you can contact the local BDM registrar office where they passed and order a certificate by phoning with the information online and pay by card if they cant find the cert they refund you iv'e used this method many times for my relatives.
You just need to give name & when passed ect

That's the whole point of the query, the date of death isn't known.

Pam

[Sandyhall]

That's the whole point of the query, the date of death isn't known.

Pam

Have they looked for the Dead Persons name on FreeBMD if the death is in england, wales because that will give them all the information they need

give us the name and let us look

[Pam Downes]

Have they looked for the Dead Persons name on FreeBMD if the death is in england, wales because that will give them all the information they need

give us the name and let us look

It won't be on FreeBMD as that only goes up to 1983, and the death was in 1995.
However, you have made me have a lightbulb moment.

adavis - Check the Probate Calendar. https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/#wills
Make sure you select the 1858-1996 tab. If the person left a will then the date of death will be in the Calendar. You might have to search the following year, because not all wills are proved in the year of death.

Pam

[Peter Goodey]

Ordering a certificate from GRO by post.

Here are the guidance notes. They may be of interest to anyone who has had trouble ordering a certificate online. So far as I know similar guidance applies to telephone orders.

https://assets.publishing.service.go...eb_2018.V2.pdf

Although after more than three months we can surely assume that the original questioner has sorted it out by now!