The loss of a loved one
In general, the providers of health care services automatically forward the information of identifying the fact of death to the population register and issue a death certificate to the person about it.
There is no need to turn to the vital statistics office as the obligation to register the death and issue the initial death certificate lies with the providers of health care services (general practitioners, hospitals, ambulance, etc).
Deaths are registered at the vital statistics office only on special occasions (a person’s death in Estonia who was a citizen of another country and didn’t have a personal identification code, a death case in a foreign country, etc).
Submitting an application
An application for registering a death is submitted to the vital statistics office within seven days of the person’s death or from the day of the finding of the deceased person by the spouse, registered partner, relative, relative by marriage of the deceased, the head of the establishment providing health care services, police officer or any other person who has information about the person’s death.
The death notice, police office notice or a court decision on identifying death or declaring death must be added to the application.
To register a death at the Tartu City Government, an application must be submitted in person at the vital statistics department (Tiigi 12, Tartu). Personal ID must be taken with.
Opening hours
Mon 9–12 and 14–17.30
Tue 12–16
Wed 9–12 and 13–16
Thu Closed
Fri 9–12 and 13–16
The applicant is issued a death certificate.
Additional information: Kaia Rahu, phone 742 0954, email [email protected]
Death in a foreign country
If a person died in a foreign country but the death wasn’t registered there, a document from the foreign country (e.g. a medical certificate) must be submitted in order to register the death.
If the death was registered in the foreign country, it doesn’t need to be registered again in Estonia, but the death document from the foreign country must be submitted for entry to the population register.
The submitted documents must be in either Estonian, Russian or English and the translation must be executed by a sworn translator. Documents from another country must also be legalized or certified by apostille if not stated otherwise in the foreign contract.
See more about the requirements for documents from a foreign country
