Is it possible to view death certificates instead of buying them.

Not to my knowledge but if someone out there knows differently please tell us all!!

Gillian

hi theresa
I am of the same understanding as gillian, so i am very careful when ordering certificates but still make mistakes and end up with unwanted ones,so i put them on sites dedicated to sharing unwanted certificates. As gillian said if anyone knows any differently we would all like to know it would make ordering certs a less hit and miss affair.
regards robert.

Thank you for your replies. Some of the BDM sites from different state in Australia you can find out parents and sometimes towns. Some even preview before buying.

Thank you once again for your help.

Theresa

Hi Theresa,

Yes I believe that what Gillian and Robert already confirmed is correct, and there's no way you can see a certificate before buying it - not England and Wales registrations anyway (not sure about Scotland). The best chance of confirming any information before you buy it would be, I think, from the Local Registry Office which covers the town where the event was registered.

On several occasions I have written to Local Reg Offices enclosing my cheque but telling them I'm not sure whether I have the correct index entry - so please could they check it first - eg - if it's a death, give them the approximate age, possible address the person lived, names of relatives who might have been present at time of death. If the details they have in their register doesn't agree with that info, they have always returned the cheque to me. But that's me posting from within the UK, & I suppose its a bit more tricky if you're overseas like yourself. But what you could do is - email the Local Registry Office (not the General Registry Office) and give them as many details as you can, and tell them you want to be sure you have the correct entry before ordering the certificate. Worth a try?

Carole

I have to agree with Carole,
Halifax office in west yorkshire only process family history certificats by post and they have checked to see if i had the correct person. silly me in the early days put a maiden name for a lady i was looking for and not her married name on the death certificate and they located her as smith and gave me the information to send in a new enquiry and sent my cheque back.