A death is registered at the civil registry office (urząd stanu cywilnego, USC) within 3 days of the death card being issued. If the cause was an infectious disease, the deadline is 24 hours from the death. Registration is free and is often done by the funeral home on the basis of an authorisation from the family.
When the deadline starts
The three days run from the day on which the doctor issued the death card, not from the death itself. For an infectious disease the deadline is shorter: 24 hours from death. A death is registered at the civil registry office for the place of death, not the place of residence. If your father lived in Kielce but died in a hospital in Kraków, you go to the USC in Kraków.
Who registers
The death is registered by a person who has the right to bury the deceased: the spouse, children, grandchildren, parents, grandparents, siblings and other relatives up to the fourth degree, and in-laws of the first degree (parents-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law). Most often it is done by the funeral home, to which the family gives an authorisation when arranging the funeral. You then hand over the death card and the deceased’s ID card, and the funeral home collects the certificate.
At the office you need the death card, the deceased’s ID card and an identity document of the person registering. The head of the USC draws up the death certificate on the day of registration and issues one abridged copy free of charge.
What if the deadline passes
The office will not refuse registration because of the delay. The Civil Status Records Act also does not provide for a penalty for simply missing the deadline. The problem lies elsewhere: a cemetery accepts a body only on the basis of a death card with the USC annotation that the death has been registered. Without registration there is no funeral.
If nobody in the family registers the death, the municipality for the place of death does it, and in that situation it is also responsible for the burial.
When documents are missing
The lack of the deceased’s ID card does not block registration. The office will establish identity from the PESEL register (the Polish national identification number) and other documents, so do not put off registering the death to search for the ID card.
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