After submitting a cause of death

Steps to follow after submitting a cause of death.

A death is ‘registered’ when all the following occur:

  • You submit a cause of death
  • The funeral director submits a death registration statement
  • BDM confirms they match.

This may be immediate. If they’re not the same, BDM may contact you or the funeral director.

Copies for the funeral director

You must leave a copy of the cause of death certificate with the body for funeral directors. Funeral directors cannot access the cause of death via their accounts.

Printed copies MUST contain the electronically generated declaration

The declaration serves as your electronic signature.

  • DON’T print from within the online form, for example by right clicking
  • DON’T hand sign an incorrectly printed form in lieu of the electronically generated signature
  • DO use the print button on the ‘Submitted items’ page
Medical practitioner's declaration certifying the details of the death. This document, including the medical practitioner's declaration, has been electronically signed on submission to the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria. A physical signature is not required.

Funeral directors can't accept incorrectly printed forms (lacking the required medical practitioner declaration). This may result in delayed or cancelled funerals.

See below for details on How to print copies

Copies for hospitals and nursing homes

A copy of the cause of death is no longer sent to the hospital or residential aged care home where the death occurred. This ensures BDM meets privacy standards for digital data.

However, hospitals and residential aged care homes can directly view the cause of death from their BDM account if:

  • They added you as a nominated user to their organisation account, and
  • You selected their facility when logging in to complete the cause of death.

To print more copies, from the submitted list:

  1. Make sure your browser is not blocking pop-up windows
  2. Select the check box next to the item
  3. Click the Print button at the bottom of the list

Correct submitted details

Before submitting the form, verify all information via the drafts list.

Corrections after submission can only be made by:

  • The medical practitioner who submitted the cause of death
  • If they are unavailable, the Senior Medical Registrar or the Treating Consultant under whom the deceased was admitted and treated. The correction email must include why the certifying medical practitioner is unavailable.

To correct a submitted form:

  1. Email bdmmedicals@justice.vic.gov.au(opens in a new window) as soon as possible with:
    • Your own details
    • The deceased person’s details
    • The details of the correction, such as incorrect name, date of death, date of birth, place of death, cause of death
    • The reason the correction is needed.
  2. Send a corrected copy to the funeral director:
    • Manually correct a printed copy
    • Sign next to the corrections
    • Send the corrected copy to the funeral director, either a hard copy or a scan via email. The copy with corrections should reflect the details emailed to BDM.

BDM will email a confirmation to the medical practitioner once the record has been corrected.

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Need help?

Call us on 132 842 and select Option 3 (service partners). Calls to this option are answered within 15 minutes, and often faster.

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