Death certificate legality, property purchase, help needed..

[Kerniki]

Hoping for some professional advice around legality on acceptance of a certified death certificate by solicitor for exchange on property.

Are there some guidelines i can quote as to the acceptance of this certificate? As i’m being told by the solicitor ‘only’ an original or a ‘certified by uk solicitor’ can be accepted.

All we have now is the original numbered / certified certificates by the local registrar who handled the death registration and the solicitor is saying they are not acceptable, maybe this is the case? seems strange if so, seeing as they handled the registration!

[Pica-Pica]

Sorry I can’t specifically help, but when each of my parents died (about 5 years apart), I had 12 official copies made at the time of each registering. The registrar printed and signed each one. It cost £4 each, but ensured we had plenty available for the various organisations that would need a copy.

[Jobbo]

Kerniki said:

‘only’ an original or a ‘certified by uk solicitor’ can be accepted.

They are right on this. It's not clear what you've actually got - I would expect a solicitor to know if what you have provided comes from the registrar. You say multiple copies certified by the registrar but generally you'd only have one original death certificate. Speak to your solicitor; they'll know what is acceptable and how to obtain a duplicate if you've lost the original.

[Kerniki]

Jobbo said:

Kerniki said:

‘only’ an original or a ‘certified by uk solicitor’ can be accepted.

They are right on this. It's not clear what you've actually got - I would expect a solicitor to know if what you have provided comes from the registrar. You say multiple copies certified by the registrar but generally you'd only have one original death certificate. Speak to your solicitor; they'll know what is acceptable and how to obtain a duplicate if you've lost the original.

We had the original but also asked for certified copies at the same time for all the different authorities that requested & accepted them.

I’m asking here because the solicitor is say these official certified copies are not acceptable for the property transaction & i dont think he’s correct as we’re dwaling with a pretty incompetent solicitor, at best!

Hoping theres a solicitor on here with an opinion / advice.

[Dogwatch]

Kerniki said:

We had the original but also asked for certified copies at the same time for all the different authorities that requested & accepted them.

I’m asking here because the solicitor is say these official certified copies are not acceptable for the property transaction & i dont think he’s correct as we’re dwaling with a pretty incompetent solicitor, at best!

Hoping theres a solicitor on here with an opinion / advice.

I'm not a solicitor but in my work I saw dozens of birth, marriage and death certificates go across my desk. If it was a copy certified by the Registrar it was accepted. End of.

Sounds as if you are dealing with a junior member of the staff. At least I hope you are!

[Jobbo]

Kerniki said:

We had the original but also asked for certified copies at the same time for all the different authorities that requested & accepted them.

I’m asking here because the solicitor is say these official certified copies are not acceptable for the property transaction & i dont think he’s correct as we’re dwaling with a pretty incompetent solicitor, at best!

Hoping theres a solicitor on here with an opinion / advice.

It may be an incompetent solicitor - either way, I'd press the point with them because they'll have to ask someone competent at their firm. Or it may be that there's a nuance to what they are requesting which they've not made clear. Nobody else can really answer.

[Zeeky]

The official copies are original documents that's why they each have a unique serial number. Land Registry accepts official copies.

Adam Hookway offers advice on the official Land Registry forum and offers an explanantion here that might help. (You could register yourself and ask your question).

https://customerhelp.landregistry.gov.uk/forums/fo...

[Actual]

When you register a death you only get a "Copy" of the death certificate and it has a serial number.

It states "Certified Copy Of An Entry"

For my dad I paid for 10 copies of the death certificate so that I could quickly send out to multiple banks and institutions and each certificate was a "Certified Copy Of An Entry"of the death certificate each with different serial numbers and each of equal status and none of the certificates was a master copy or more senior to another.

For my mum I didn't have any certificate so I requested a 2 copies of the death certificate from the registrar and what was supplied was "Certified Copy Of An Entry" in identical format to the certificates for my dad and each with different serial numbers.

Some institutions request a death certificate number and I could give any of the numbers on the certificates.

Many institutions accepted a scan of the "Certified Copy Of An Entry" and didn't require the original copy certificate.

Maybe another way to have a duplicate death certificate would be to have a certified copy of a "Certified Copy Of An Entry" and this may be acceptable to some institutions if they recognise the person or body that made and certified the copy.

Anything else is just a copy like a photocopy and would not be acceptable as an official copy.

You will never get the actual original death certificate (if it actually exists these days).

[Kerniki]

Zeeky said:

The official copies are original documents that's why they each have a unique serial number. Land Registry accepts official copies.

Adam Hookway offers advice on the official Land Registry forum and offers an explanantion here that might help. (You could register yourself and ask your question).

https://customerhelp.landregistry.gov.uk/forums/fo...

Thanks, thats what we kept saying, as the other poster said, it seems we have a pretty inept solicitor, hopefully quoting the guidelines and insisting on someone a little more senior, might get things moving.

Thanks to all for the input.

[supersport]

Kerniki said:

Zeeky said:

The official copies are original documents that's why they each have a unique serial number. Land Registry accepts official copies.

Adam Hookway offers advice on the official Land Registry forum and offers an explanantion here that might help. (You could register yourself and ask your question).

https://customerhelp.landregistry.gov.uk/forums/fo...

Thanks, thats what we kept saying, as the other poster said, it seems we have a pretty inept solicitor, hopefully quoting the guidelines and insisting on someone a little more senior, might get things moving.

Thanks to all for the input.

I’ve literally done this Today. It’s correct.

Registra asks how many copies at £11 each and then loads the printer. Each is individually numbered and signed by the registra. They are all identical other than having their own serial number.

[Happy Jim]

You will also need a copy of the Probate certificate to sell the house (proof that is yours to sell)

[bladebloke]

Happy Jim said:

You will also need a copy of the Probate certificate to sell the house (proof that is yours to sell)

Not necessarily - that would only be the case if the deceased was the sole registered proprietor.

[bladebloke]

Kerniki said:

Thanks, thats what we kept saying, as the other poster said, it seems we have a pretty inept solicitor, hopefully quoting the guidelines and insisting on someone a little more senior, might get things moving.

Thanks to all for the input.

Hope you get it sorted. I’d echo what others have said but put in a slightly different way - my best guess is that the thing you have is as ‘original’ as it gets for a death certificate, and the person refusing it is junior and getting confused by the fact it says ‘certified copy of an entry’ at the top.