Certificate of cremation

A certificate of cremation is the document a crematorium issues once a cremation has taken place, recording who was cremated, where and when. It is not the same as the registrar’s green form, which comes before the cremation. A family needs it to take or send the ashes abroad, and a churchyard, cemetery or other burial ground may ask for it before the ashes are interred or scattered there.

How it differs from the green form

The certificate for burial or cremation, the green form, is the registrar’s permission for the cremation to go ahead. The certificate of cremation is the crematorium’s record that it has happened. Your funeral director collects it with the ashes; ask for the original, and if the ashes are going overseas, ask the crematorium whether it issues a version for use abroad.

When you will need it

Most airlines ask passengers carrying ashes to have it with them, usually alongside a copy of the death certificate; Ryanair, easyJet and British Airways all name both. Border officers at the other end may ask to see it. Some countries want more than the certificate itself. The High Commission of India, for example, asks for a copy of it among the papers for its ashes certificate, which India needs before ashes arrive.

Keeping it safe

Keep the original with the death certificate and carry both in your hand luggage with the urn, never in the hold. If it is lost, the crematorium that carried out the cremation can usually issue a copy. If the ashes are to be divided, between two countries or two members of the family, each portion travels with the same papers, so ask for copies at the start. Taking ashes on a plane sets out what each airline asks for, and taking ashes to India the High Commission’s list.