Obituary and death notice

An obituary is a short piece about the life of someone who has recently died, usually published in a newspaper. A death notice is a brief paid announcement, usually in a newspaper’s births, marriages and deaths column, giving the basic details of the death. A deceased estates notice is different: an executor places it in The Gazette so that anyone owed money by the estate can come forward.

What an obituary is for

An obituary tells the story of a life. Newspapers often run one as a news article, and it usually dwells on the good things in the person’s life. The same word is sometimes used for the printed booklet handed out at a funeral service, which tells the person’s life story.

What a death notice says

A death notice is shorter and plainer. It gives the basic facts of the death and leaves out most of the life story. The family places it and pays for it, like any other advertisement, and it usually runs in the Births, Marriages and Deaths section of a local or national paper.

The Gazette notice for the estate

A deceased estates notice is a legal notice, not an announcement for friends. The executor or administrator places it in The Gazette, and often in a local paper as well. It gives the details of the person who has died and of the executor, so that anyone with a claim against the estate, or an interest in it, can come forward.

Placing one shows that a fair effort was made to find anyone owed money before the estate is shared out. That protects the executor from being personally liable for a debt that appears later. It is one step in dealing with probate, and it sits apart from any newspaper notice the family chooses to place.