Summary
The death of a person must be reported as soon as possible to the civil registry office of the municipality where the person died. The death must be officially recorded by a doctor. You must therefore obtain a death certificate as soon as possible.
In detail
If the death occurs at home, you should immediately contact the deceased person’s usual doctor or the doctor on-call.
Once in possession of the death certificate drawn up by the doctor, a declaration must be made before the civil registry office of the municipality where the person died or of the place where the dead body was found.
If the deceased has left a valid decision in writing to donate their body to science, the document will be submitted to the local authority at the time of the declaration of death. Once the scientific research has been completed, the body will either be buried or cremated. The costs are borne by the person responsible for making the funeral arrangements.
In all cases, the person responsible for making the funeral arrangements must ensure that, before any decision is made, the deceased person’s last wishes regarding their funeral are respected.
There is no cost associated with obtaining a death certificate as such.
Useful links
- A funeral home or undertaker can assist you with all these procedures. Contact details for such companies can be found at: https://funebra.be/.
- You can find all the information about on-call doctors or by calling 1733.
- For any other useful information, you will find the addresses of the Belgian embassies and consulates abroad, as well as the addresses of foreign embassies and consulates in Belgium.