Stillbirths

Registering a stillbirth

Where do I go?

Stillbirths should normally be registered within 42 days. A stillbirth may not be registered more than 3 months after it happened.

The stillbirth can often be registered at the hospital before the mother leaves. Alternatively, you can go to the register office in the district where the stillbirth happened – or to another one if more convenient. Things will take a bit longer through an office out of the district where the stillbirth took place because the registrar will need to forward your information to the original district who will then post the certificates to you.

Register office opening hours vary from one district to another and most operate an appointment system.

To find details of your local or other register office, visit the appropriate county council (or London or Metropolitan borough) website. Please put the town or postcode into the search box on the right hand side of this page to return a link to the website you need. Alternatively, addresses and phone numbers for local register offices can be found in the local area phone book.

You will need to allow about half an hour to complete the registration process once you are with the registrar.