What to do when someone dies

What needs to be done depends on where the death occurred and whether it was from natural causes. Our funeral home can take care of most of the formalities for the family.

In what order should things be done after someone close to you dies?

1. Obtaining the medical certificate of death
2. Registering the death and the death certificate
3. Transport of the deceased and the funeral date
4. The ZUS funeral grant
5. Matters after the funeral

1. Obtaining the medical certificate of death

   The medical certificate of death (karta zgonu) is the document you need to obtain the death certificate from the Register Office (urząd stanu cywilnego).

   If the death occurs in hospital

   When death occurs in hospital, the medical certificate of death is issued by the attending doctor.

   If the death occurs at home

   If you are not sure that death has occurred, call the emergency number 999 or 112 straight away.

   The death and its cause are established, and the medical certificate of death is then completed, by the doctor who treated the deceased during their last illness or, if the death occurred during a rescue operation, by the head of the emergency medical team. Where this is not possible, the death is established by an examination of the body carried out by a doctor or, if no doctor is available, by a person appointed for this purpose by the district head (starosta); the family of the deceased is not charged for this examination.

   Once the medical certificate of death is ready, please call our funeral helpline. We will take the deceased to our mortuary and take care of arranging the funeral.

   If the death occurs away from home or hospital

   If the death was the result of an accident or suicide, or a crime is suspected, the ambulance service notifies the police, and the police notify the public prosecutor’s office responsible for the place of death. The deceased is taken to the Department of Forensic Medicine. The prosecutor decides whether a post-mortem is needed.

   What happens next depends on that decision:

   • If the prosecutor has ordered a post-mortem, the family applies to the prosecutor’s office for permission to release the body; without it the Department of Forensic Medicine will not release the deceased. The medical certificate of death is then issued by the Department of Forensic Medicine.
   • If the prosecutor has decided against a post-mortem, the medical certificate of death is completed by the doctor described in step 1.

   The death certificate is drawn up by the Register Office for the place of death, not for the place of the post-mortem or the place where the deceased lived. If the death occurred on a road in Miechów, the death certificate is drawn up by the office in Miechów, even if the post-mortem was carried out in Kraków.

2. Obtaining the death certificate from the Register Office

   The death certificate is the official document that confirms the death. A copy of it is needed, among other things, at ZUS, at the bank and in inheritance matters.

   You will need the following documents

   • the medical certificate of death
   • the identity card of the deceased
   • an identity document of the person registering the death (for example an identity card or passport)

   Who registers the death, and when?

   The death is registered by a person entitled to bury the deceased, that is, the closest family: the surviving spouse, descendants (children, grandchildren), ascendants (parents, grandparents), relatives in the collateral line up to the fourth degree and relatives by marriage in the direct line up to the first degree. A person who voluntarily undertakes to bury the deceased also has the right to do so.

   Registration means submitting the medical certificate of death to the head of the Register Office within 3 days of the date it was completed. If the death was caused by an infectious disease, it must be registered within 24 hours of the death. The competent Register Office is the one for the place of death or the place where the body was found.

3. Transport of the deceased and the funeral date

   Once you call our funeral helpline, Lilia Funeral Home comes to collect the deceased. We take the deceased to a mortuary, and we agree the date and place of the funeral with the family, the cemetery administration and the parish, or with the funeral celebrant for a secular funeral.

   Burial requires the medical certificate of death bearing the Register Office’s note that the death has been registered. The part of the certificate intended for the cemetery administration is handed to the cemetery.

4. The ZUS funeral grant

   The application for the funeral grant is made to ZUS by the person who paid for the funeral, within 12 months of the date of death. A member of the deceased’s family receives the full grant, and a person from outside the family a refund of documented costs up to the statutory limit. The amount depends on the date of death, as the rules changed on 1 January 2026; ZUS gives the current amounts on zus.pl.

   The grant can be paid directly into the funeral home’s account if the person making the application authorises this. We will help you prepare the documents needed to claim the funeral grant.

5. Matters after the funeral

   After the funeral, it is worth putting the deceased’s affairs in order: cancelling contracts (telephone, internet, utilities, subscriptions) and notifying the bank and the employer or the body paying the retirement or disability pension.

   The estate of the deceased is a separate matter. Acquisition of the estate is confirmed by a court decision or by a certificate of succession drawn up by a notary.

Frequently asked questions