Death statement – a document confirming a person has died.

Death certificate – a national document based on data from the Population register, includes the name, personal ID, date of birth, date of death, time of registration of death and entry number of the deceased person. A death certificate is an official document if it bears the signature of the issuer and the stamp of the issuing authority.

Why is it needed?

Without a death certificate, you will, for the most part, be unable to proceed any further, as it is required for practically all subsequent steps, e.g., the burial of a person is prohibited without a certificate.

How is it issued?

If the data concerning the person’s death has been forwarded to the population register by a health care professional, the deceased’s next of kin can obtain the initial death certificate from the health care institution’s doctor. The initial death certificate can be issued to a loved one once the cause of death is known and transmitted to the Health Information System and the death is registered in the population register. Only in exceptional cases, where the death is registered by the Vital Statistics Office, shall the initial death certificate be issued by the Vital Statistics Office.

There is no charge for the initial issue of a death certificate.

The death of a stillborn child is not registered in the population register, and no death certificate is issued; the death is certified, and burial is made possible by a medical death statement.

Applying for a duplicate certificate

If you have lost your death certificate or need it in a foreign language (English, German, French; with a standard multilingual form or on the CIEC form) for submission abroad, you can apply for a new duplicate certificate by submitting an application to the county town local authority of your choice or to the foreign mission of Estonia.

The state fee must be paid for the duplicate certificate. The state fee for a certificate issued by a local authority is EUR 10, and for a certificate issued by a foreign mission of Estonia or consular post, the state fee is EUR 20. For the issue of a multilingual standard form along with a death certificate, a fee of EUR 20 per document is payable. For more information, please contact a suitable county town local authority or foreign mission of Estonia.

It is only in exceptional cases that the medical institution does not automatically transmit death details to the population register. In this case, a doctor from a health care institution will not issue a death certificate, and loved ones will have to submit an application (pdf, 35,2 kB) for the registration of the death to the county town local authority within seven days of the date of death or the date on which the deceased was found. You can also fill in the application form on the spot at the Vital Statistics oOffice.

Who can register a death?

• Spouse
• Relative
• Relative by marriage
• A Person who lived with the deceased
• head of an institution providing healthcare services
• police officer
• another person who has information concerning the death

Where can you register a death?
The application for registration of death can be submitted to any county town local authority, in Tallinn, to the Vital Statistics Department. NB! As of 01/07/2019, other local governments do not register deaths. The death will be registered within three working days of receipt of the application.

In order to register a death with the Vital Statistics Office, you must submit:

• A death statement, police authority report or a court order establishing or declaring the death
• Personal identity document of the applicant

The death of an Estonian citizen or a person of undetermined nationality needs to be registered with the relevant foreign authority (usually the Vital Statistics Office). If there are signs of violence on the body, a police investigation and autopsy may precede the registration of the death. There are some countries where all foreigners (foreign nationals) who die are autopsied, e.g., Thailand. This means that it may take longer (around a week to a month, or even longer, depending on the circumstances) for a death certificate to be issued.

The death document must be certified by apostille (list of countries that use apostille to certify documents) or legalised (list of countries that do not use apostille) unless the document is issued by an authority of a member state of the European Union, Russia or Ukraine.

The death document must be in Estonian, Russian or English. For other languages, a sworn translation into Estonian, Russian or English is required (information on translating foreign documents ).

A death document issued on a CIEC form does not need to be translated, certified or legalised. The registration of the death of a person staying abroad for a short period (e.g. on holiday or a business trip) and the validation of the death certificate, i.e., apostilisation or legalisation abroad, is handled by the travel insurance company if the deceased had travel insurance, or by a funeral home selected by the loved ones of the deceased.

Those close to the deceased must decide on whether to bring the remains to Estonia and whether to do so in a coffin or have the body cremated and the remains transported in an urn. The transport of a body in a coffin can only be arranged by an internationally licensed funeral home. The remains of the deceased may also be brought to Estonia in an urn by a private person (e.g. loved ones of the deceased). Both the coffin and the urn need to be sealed for transport, which is usually done by the funeral home.

For more information, call the 24/7 consular hotline of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (+372)-5301-9999 or write to the online consul via Facebook. NB! The cost of transporting the body to Estonia is covered by the insurance company if the deceased had travel insurance. If there was no insurance, the costs must be borne by the loved ones of the deceased.

The death document and, if necessary, its translation, must be submitted to the county town local authority in Estonia, where the death will be entered in the population register.

If the loved ones of the deceased have decided that the deceased will be buried in a foreign country (the deceased lived and worked there, their loved ones do not have the money, interest or desire to bring the remains to Estonia, etc.), it is necessary to arrange for the death certificate to be certified (if apostilisation or legalisation is required) and to have a sworn translator translate the certificate into Russian or English (if the document has not already been issued in these languages). The death certificate and, if necessary, its translation must be submitted to the local municipality authority in Estonia, where the information relating to the person's death shall be entered in the population register.

The doctor who establishes the fact of death of a foreign national notifies the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which in turn informs the diplomatic mission of the deceased’s country of residence.

The health care institution that has established the fact of death will issue the deceased’s loved ones with a death certificate in Estonian, if the foreign citizen has an Estonian personal identity code. If the foreign citizen does not have an Estonian personal identity code, the health care institution will issue the deceased’s loved ones with death certificates in Estonian stating the fact of death and the cause of death.

If it is necessary to submit the death certificate to the authority of the deceased’s country of nationality or residence (for example, if the person was staying in Estonia temporarily), the deceased’s loved ones can apply for a death certificate in English, German or French or in internationally recognised forms (CIEC, certificate with a standard multilingual form) from a local municipality authority in Estonia. You will have to pay a fee for a duplicate death certificate.

If the loved ones of the deceased wish to have the body or the urn containing the ashes of the deceased transported to another country, the transport will be based on the requirements of the country of destination, with the foreign mission of that country in Estonia or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs having to be contacted. Information on arranging the cross-border transport of a body or urn, along with the estimated transport costs, is available from funeral homes.

You can use the death information service in the population register to find out whether a person is deceased. To make a query, you need to know the person’s ID or their name or the name and date of birth. Death information (incl date of death) is issued for people who died after 01/07/2010.