Genealogy Chat

My friend's father died this week. He was very old and had Alzheimer's, so its a blessed release. My friend lives abroad and returned yesterday to arrange the funeral. Her first job was to register the death and when she got to the RO she was horrified to see that the Death Certificate, made out by the Doctor, had the wrong name on it! The Registrar said, however, that IT DID NOT MATTER (yes, I'm shouting), as long as my friend believed that this was the certificate for her father. Furthermore, there is no procedure for altering a Death Certificate once it has been written out (Shipman, Shipman). So my friend's father has now been registered with the wrong given name and as his surname is Smith.... Can you believe this?! Marjorie

OMG - there's no hope for us! Anne

I think she defineatley needs to COMPLAIN to a higher authority about this...............it's surely illegal. I can't believe with all the red tape these days.......Have you tried to open a bank account! all the proof of identiy needed etc. She needs legal assistance ...............or the ombudsman or the like, they cannot be allowed to get away with it.!

Marjorie That's appalling. That's like giving a child a birth certificate in the wrong name and saying 'Well it doesn't matter cos you know its your child'. Your friend definitely needs to make a complaint, preferably to the Superintendent Registrar or to the Local Council Ombudsman Lou

There is a procedure, my father's death certificate is was also registered by the doctor and a mistake was made with his birth date with the wrong month being quoted. You need to contact the registrar with documentary proof of the error (in my case it was a copy of father's birth certificate) and a correction will be made in the margin to the effect. What the registrar can not do however, is change the details of the original notifiaction. Hope this helps Peter

But as we all know, notes in margins don't get transcribed, just the original details.

I stumbled across a similar problem only the other day. According to the offical records, my mother did not marry my father but did marry a man with the completely wrong surname. The surname listed on the records differs a great deal from my fathers last name but it is the right person. I have written and tried to telephone but have been told the same thing - they cannot alter the records, even though the original marriage certificate has the correct spelling on it. I have warned my parents not to misplace the original certificate. There's no hope sometimes.............Janine

Marjorie, Did the doctor know he had made a mistake? Crista

Christa Yes, my friend pointed out to the Supervisor of the Home (after the nonsense at the Registrar's Office), who rang the GP who had signed the death certificate. He flatly refuses to alter it, says it does not matter, even though his baptismal name was Alfred, he was known in the Home as Bert, so that is what name his death must be registered as.(The Home was the only place that ever called him Bert, by the way, everyone else, including his wife called him Alf) There is no procedure, in the Doctor's opinion, for altering a signed certificate of death. I can sort of see the point of this, its open to abuse if you could allow people to alter the names on a death cert. But I am reminded (strangely) of the procedure we had where I worked - if you wrote out a cheque (years before computers, this) and it was wrong, you crossed it through, entered it in the Book of Errors and filed it along with the replacement, correct cheque and an explanation of what you had done. My friend doesnt quite know what to do, she has to return home the day after the funeral next monday. She thinks she will attempt to deal with this by post when she gets home. I personally think its unbelievable; as you say, you have to jump through hoops of fire to open a bank account/get a passport, but apparently your death can be registered under the wrong name and it doesnt matter! Marjorie

I believe the form the doctor fills out is separate from the death cert issued by the registrar which would hopefully be correct. My grandfather died in 1972 and was registered by my uncle, who is also now dead. When my mum gave me the cert I noticed that my grandfather's year of birth was out by a year and that his place of birth had been misspelt. I contacted the register office and they told me that it can be altered like this: I have to send copies of the birth and death certs to the register office. They then send them to the GRO requesting permission to alter the death registration. GRO then hopefully say yes, and then I have to go to the register office in person and re-register it. Makes me wonder just how accurate the certs I have are! nell

My great-grandfather's birth certificate was corrected after his death! The place of birth had been recorded as Elmore End but should have been Elmer's End. I would love to know who got it corrected and why! This was in 1918.

I have a death cert which has a correction written in the margin and a note by the registrar saying he made the amendment in the presence of the original informant. The death cert is for my great-grandmother Emma and the amendment is the addition of her second husband's (who died before her) occupation. Don't know why their son felt the need to have this added, but there you go. It gave his former address so I have yet another ancestral home to track down and see if its been demolished! nell

Maybe this is why I can't find any trace of my grandfather's death, even though I've been through 30 years of the St. Catherine's Index about 6 times. MAYBE IT WAS THE DOCTOR'S FAULT. :-) Kath. x

I've no idea but there must be issues with wills, claiming pensions and other financial stuff if the name is wrong on the death cert. Crista

Well, the poor old chap had nothing to leave, but anyone want to bet there WON'T be a problem with cancelling his pension! The Registrar would only enter the details exactly as they were shown on the death certificate, despite my friend desperately begging her to alter the given name - the Registrar said she was not allowed, by Law, to enter anything other than the information on the Doctor's Death Certificate, even if it was wrong! It makes me wonder how many times this has happened, particularly if someone dies without any close relatives to oversee things - what a nightmare, for instance, a hundred years ago, someone dying in the Workhouse, suffering from Alzheimers. Or even today, someone dying in a Home and a Care Assistant giving the details, as she knows them, to the attending Doctor. Marjorie.

Marjorie, Sounds like the medical board needs to review its practices and make sure doctors consult the next of kin where possible before issuing deaths certs. Crista

My grandmother's death 20 years ago required an inquest which we, the family, were unable to attend because of distance. The resulting death certificate got her name wrong. My mother complained to the Coroner's Office and got a corrected certificate. My Nan is now listed twice in the deaths index! In this particular case, I am at a loss to understand why the doctor and registrar are taking such a laidback attitude. I just hope that the wrong name on the certificate doesn't cause any problems for the deceased's executors when they sort out his estate. (e.g. when trying to get Probate) Dave

When I recently registered the death of an acquaintance (surrogate next of kin) the pains the Registrar went to - to ensure everything was correct. Checking the details very carefully - even to the extent of what his occupation was. All I knew was that he'd been a labourer but the Registrar was adamant that I put in more details than general labourer (as stated in the Registrar's bible). As I couldn't he had to speak to the Senior Registrar who allowed it. So if they went to such pains just for previous occupation then I would have thought it doubly or triplerly more important to get the name right.

Marjorie OMG is right what is going on? when my Dad passed away I had to take the receipt for his funeral to the bank in Australia before they would close his bank a/c's and put them into my Mothers name, well when I went back to the bank to do what the manager had told me to do, the young bloke who served me said we can't do that because you do not have the death certificate with you ,I lost it and said" Well do you think we cremated him alive" as I had the receipt for his funeral, me screaming and crying did get results I think that they thought I was nuts. But surely the wrong name on the death certificate would cause all sorts of Legal complications that your friend could well do without at this sad time the GP who did the certificate wrong should have to do or be able to do a statuary declaration or whatever it would take to enable him to do new certicate Laraine

Hi Marjorie I think this person should be named and shamed so we are all aware if we have to visit that office even a location might make us all aware. Death is a very difficult thing to deal with and the beareved need all the help and understanding possible. Margaret