When someone dies in Spain: what to do, in order

Most families hear the news from a hotel, a hospital or the police, in a language they may not speak, with someone already asking which funeral director to call. The order below is the one that keeps every choice open, and it starts with the insurer rather than the funeral director.

The first calls, in order

If your loved one had no travel policy, the family appoints and pays the funeral director directly. The consulate cannot lend or pay the money, but it can explain how to transfer funds from family in the UK.

Registering the death in Spain

The death is registered at the local civil registry, the Registro Civil, as soon as possible, and the Spanish funeral director normally does this for you. The registry may ask for your loved one’s passport, their birth certificate, a home address and, where they apply, a marriage certificate or divorce papers. If your loved one is coming home, the funeral director also gives the registry the name of the cemetery or crematorium in the UK, because it is written on the certificate.

The certificate is the certificado literal de defunción. Ask for the multilingual version, the certificado plurilingüe, which carries an English translation, and ask for extra copies. A Spanish certificate does not state the cause of death, so keep any medical paperwork you are given.

If the death was sudden

When a death is sudden, violent or unexplained, a court takes charge. A judge can order a post-mortem, the pathologist can keep tissue samples without asking the family, and nothing moves until the judge authorises it. Personal belongings can be held as evidence until the case closes, and the post-mortem report is not sent to the family: you or a lawyer apply to the court for it.

This is the step nobody can hurry, and it is the one to ask about on the first day. Do not let anyone fix a funeral date in the UK until the court has released your loved one.

Three choices: burial, cremation or coming home

A burial in Spain. A local funeral director arranges it under the rules of that region, which differ across Spain.

A cremation in Spain, with the ashes brought home. Spain places no health requirement on an urn beyond a case with the name on it. You need the death certificate and the cremation certificate to fly with the ashes, and some airlines want notice. No permit is needed to bring ashes into the UK. One caution matters more than the rest: if you may want a coroner in England or Wales to hold an inquest, do not choose a cremation abroad.

Repatriation to the UK. An international funeral director in the UK works with the Spanish one, and you sign a form allowing both to act for you. Spain’s own process is run by Sanidad Exterior, the health ministry’s border office, through its SISAEX system. It needs the medical certificate of death, the registry certificate, a certificate of embalming or temporary preservation, the regional health authority’s permission where it applies, and a judge’s authorisation if the death was violent. International transfers travel in a sealed coffin, and the funeral director declares in writing that it has been sealed.

When your loved one arrives in England or Wales

You take the Spanish certificate, with a certified English translation, to the register office where the funeral will be. The registrar issues a certificate of no liability to register, which the UK funeral director needs before the funeral. You do not have to register the death with the UK authorities as well.

If the cause of death was unknown, violent or unnatural, the coroner for the area must investigate once your loved one is in England or Wales, and may hold a second post-mortem. For a cremation in the UK the coroner also issues a certificate, form Cremation 6.

Our Spain repatriation page carries the estimate and the documents for both directions. If the death was in the Canary Islands, the Tenerife and Canary Islands guide covers the islands’ consulates and the route home.