Dealing with a death

• Notify Dartford Borough Council of a death
• Please note that all deaths must be registered with a Registrar of Births and Deaths in the area where the death happened. The Kent Registration Services provides information on how and where you do this.

The following links give advice on many of the practical and legal issues that have to be dealt with when someone dies. There is also advice and information about support groups that may help you to cope with the emotional trauma of losing someone close to you.

• How to register a death, Kent Registration Services
• Details of Funeral Directors, local and national
• Independent Funeral Information
• Cruse Bereavement Care
• The Child Bereavement Trust
• BUPA's fact sheet about bereavement and grieving
• Search Dartford's Burial Archives 1856 - 2006

Cemeteries

• The Council is responsible for cemeteries within the borough.

Council Tax and Benefits/ Pensions

• If, as a result of the death, you are the only adult living in a property you may be entitled to a reduction in the amount of Council Tax payable.
• You may be entitled to claim a Funeral Payment, Bereavement Payment and Bereavement Allowance. Go to the website for the Department of Work and Pensions and then use the benefits and services A-Z for more information.
• If the person who has died receives any benefits or pensions or if you or someone else is in receipt of any benefit or pension which included an amount for the deceased, the organisation paying the benefit or pension will need to be notified.