A death in Ghana produces two documents, and people routinely confuse them.
The burial permit is the urgent one. It is what a mortuary and a cemetery require, and it is needed within days.
The death certificate is the legal one. It is what a bank, SSNIT, an insurer and a probate court require, and it is needed for years.
Both come from the Births and Deaths Registry under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act 2020 (Act 1027).
In the first days
- Get the medical cause of death from the hospital, or, where the death was at home, have it certified as the facility or the coroner directs.
- Obtain the burial permit from the district Registry office or the assembly, on the strength of that certification.
- Take the deceased to a mortuary if the funeral will not be immediate, which in Ghana it usually will not be.
- Register the death with the Registry.
Ghanaian funerals are not held quickly
A gap of weeks or months between death and funeral is normal here, and the mortuary charges for every day of it. That is a cost the family should understand early rather than discover at collection. — Funerals in Ghana
Registering the death
Registration is compulsory, and the formal window is 12 months.
Bring:
- Medical certification of the cause of death, or the equivalent where the death was not in a facility
- The deceased’s Ghana Card, and their birth certificate if available
- Your own Ghana Card as the informant, and your relationship to the deceased
- Details of the deceased: full name, date and place of birth, occupation, last address
An unnatural, sudden or unexplained death is a police and coroner matter first. Registration follows the investigation; it does not substitute for it.
Where a death occurs abroad
A Ghanaian who dies abroad is registered in the country where the death occurred. The nearest Ghanaian mission assists with repatriation and with the paperwork, and the foreign death certificate will generally need authentication before Ghanaian institutions will act on it.
What the certificate is actually for
This is the part families discover late, and expensively.
- The bank. An account is frozen on notice of death. Releasing it needs the certificate and either letters of administration or probate.
- SSNIT. Survivors’ benefits are claimed on it. — SSNIT and pensions
- Insurers, for any life policy.
- The court, for letters of administration where there is no will, or probate where there is.
- Land and property, to transfer title. — Buying land in Ghana
Get several certified copies
Every one of those institutions wants its own copy and most will not give it back. Families routinely return to the Registry three times. Ask for several at once.
Intestate succession
Where there is no will, the Intestate Succession Act 1985 (PNDCL 111) governs who inherits, and it does not always match what the family expects, particularly where customary law and the statute pull in different directions.
This is one of the moments where paying a lawyer is the cheapest thing you will do all year. Estate disputes in Ghana run for years.