There are a lot of things you need to think about when a family member passes away, and it’s easy to forget which parts are an absolute necessity and which are not. Here we answer the question of whether or not you have to announce someone has passed in the newspaper.
The short answer is no, it is not a legal requirement that you need to announce a death in a local newspaper. Commonly known as a funeral notice, death notice or obituary, these kinds of announcements have been printed in newspapers for centuries, so you would be excused for thinking that such a long history must have been caused by some kind of law forcing people to publish them. However, because of its long history it has become something that is now steeped in tradition, and so in many areas of the country can be seen as unusual for a death not to be announced in the local newspaper.
Obituary notices fill the pages in The Sentinel, Stoke-on-Trent
For this question there are two slightly different answers depending on what it is you are actually asking.
Are you obliged to place a death notice? No, it is entirely your choice, or the choice of the deceased if they left instructions in the event of their passing.
If you do want to announce a death, does it have to be done in a newspaper? Again no, there are now a lot more options open to you. Newspapers still have that tradition behind them so certain generations will expect to see it in print, but a lot of people are now choosing a digital medium.
Social media provides people a free and easy way of announcing a death with friends and family who you are already connected with, but if you want to cast a wider net and reach old colleagues, school friends, or estranged family members then funeral-notices.co.uk might be the right option for you.
Here we allow people to create an everlasting online tribute page where people can not only visit to find out the funeral details, but they can also leave messages or photos, light virtual candles, or even donate in memory. With over 1.2 million unique users* visiting funeral-notices.co.uk every month, and the added facility of an easy way to share every tribute page, placing a Funeral Notice here ensures that it will reach as many people as possible.
If you’re interested in placing a Funeral Notice, either in a newspaper or online, then take a look at the helpful article below:
How to create a notice.
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