Death Registration and Death Certificates

A death must be reported within 24 hours of the time of death or of the discovery of the body, to the registration office for the locality. For hospital deaths the facility issues a certificate of death (T.R.4/1) for the family to present; the registrar then issues the death certificate and removes the name from the house register.

A death at home must be reported by the house-master or the person who found the body within 24 hours. Where the death is unnatural under the Criminal Procedure Code — accident, violence or unknown cause — an inquest by the investigating officer and a physician takes place first, and the death certificate follows the inquest findings.

It is the core document for petitioning the court to appoint an estate administrator, transferring land or condominium title by inheritance at the Land Office, closing bank accounts, life and health insurance claims, and notifying the deceased's embassy where the deceased was a foreign national.

Generally a certified copy of the Thai death certificate, an English translation certified by the Department of Consular Affairs, and in many countries a further attestation by that country's embassy or consulate in Thailand. Repatriation of remains or ashes adds embassy-specific paperwork such as a body-transport permit and a certificate of cremation.

Normally the registrar removes the deceased's name from the house register at the same time the death certificate is issued. Still, request a fresh certified copy of the house register: banks, the Land Office and the courts usually want the register showing the removal alongside the death certificate.

Report the death to the Thai embassy or consulate-general in that country so a Thai death certificate can be issued from the local certificate and its translation. Then present the Thai certificate at the district office to remove the name from the house book. This step must be done before a court application to appoint an estate administrator.

Report the death to the Thai embassy or consulate-general to obtain a Thai death certificate, or use the foreign death certificate authenticated under that country's system with a certified translation from the Department of Consular Affairs. This is needed to remove the name from the house registration and to administer the estate.