What to do if someone dies in Germany

The Totenschein and the Leichenpass

German death registration involves two distinct documents that do not exist in the UK system. The Totenschein is the doctor’s certificate of death — internal to the medical system and used to initiate registration. The Sterbeurkunde is the official death certificate issued by the Standesamt (registry office). It does not show the cause of death, and a multilingual version is available under EU convention.

The Leichenpass is what makes Germany distinctive. This document, literally a corpse passport, is required for international transport of a body and is unique to the German regulatory framework. Your funeral director handles the application, but it adds a step and one to two days to the process. British families unfamiliar with it sometimes misunderstand why an extra document is needed. It is simply how the German system is structured.

Sixteen Bundesländer, Sixteen Variations

Germany has 16 federal states (Bundesländer), each with its own funeral law (Bestattungsgesetz). The broad structure is consistent — death registration, medical certification, funeral director involvement, Leichenpass — but the specific timelines and requirements vary by state. Baden-Württemberg has different regulations from North Rhine-Westphalia. In practice, for British families, this distinction matters most when the death occurs in a smaller city or rural area rather than a major hub.

Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Düsseldorf all have professional funeral directors very experienced with British repatriations and UK funeral home requirements. Outside the major cities, find a repatriation specialist early rather than relying on a local funeral director to navigate the international process.

Alpine Ski Resorts and Bavarian Mountain Deaths

The Bavarian Alps attract British skiers and winter sports visitors. Deaths at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Oberstdorf, or on high mountain terrain involve mountain rescue operations, possible police investigation, and — in avalanche or serious accident cases — potential delays before the body can be retrieved. All of this happens before any paperwork can start. The core German repatriation process is efficient once it begins, but deaths in remote mountain terrain add days at the front end that the standard 7-14 day timeline does not fully capture.

Lufthansa Cargo provides excellent, frequent UK connections from Frankfurt, Munich, and Düsseldorf. Once German documentation is in order, the logistics are among the most reliable in Europe.

Sources: FCDO Germany guidance (updated June 2025); Bundesministerium für Inneres, civil registration procedures; Deutsche Bestattungskultur guidance.