What is the role of a coroner?

Sometimes a coroner may be involved when a death occurs. This is quite normal when the death of a loved one is sudden or unexpected. This will also be in certain cases where the person who has died has not seen their doctor within the 14 days leading up to their death.

Paramedics will attend the place of death when a sudden or unexpected death occurs, and if necessary the Police may also attend. This is to obtain information on the coroners behalf and either they or the doctor will inform the coroner accordingly.

The role of the coroner is to determine what has caused the death. Sometimes this may require a post mortem.

What is a post mortem?

A post-mortem is a type of examination which is also known as an autopsy. It is the examination of the body of the person that has died and will help the coroner establish the cause of death.

A post-mortem examination is carried out by a pathologist which is a doctor who specialises in understanding the nature of illness and the causes of disease.

The post mortem can take a few days, or sometimes more but once the cause of death has been established, the coroner will give permission for the person that has died to be released into the care of your funeral director.

At this point, we can offer further help and guidance on registering your loved one’s death which will allow their funeral arrangements to go ahead

The cause of death is clear

If the coroner decides that the cause of death is clear:

1. They’ll issue a certificate to the registrar saying that a post-mortem or inquest is not needed.
2. The registrar will register the death with the informant (please refer to our section on ‘How to register a death’).

After the post-mortem

The coroner will release the body for a funeral once they have completed the post-mortem examinations and no further examinations are needed.

If the body is released with no inquest, the coroner will send a form (‘Pink Form – form 100B’) to the registrar stating the cause of death.

The coroner will also send a ‘Certificate of Coroner – form Cremation 6’ if the body is to be cremated.

The coroner holds an inquest

A coroner must hold an inquest if:

• the cause of death is still unknown
• the person might have died a violent or unnatural death
• the person might have died in prison or police custody

Death certificates

If you need proof of the death while you wait for the inquest to finish, ask the coroner for an interim death certificate.

Once the inquest is over, you can get the final death certificate from the registrar.

Documents when a death is reported to a coroner

If a death is reported to a coroner, the documents you need to register the death may be different. The coroner will decide either:

• the cause of death is clear
• that a post-mortem is needed
• to hold an inquest