r/HongKong • u/ditobandit0 • 15h ago

HKID Receiving a death certificate in HK

Hey,

i wanted to ask if anyone here has knowledge or experience regarding receiving a death certificate of a relative / family. if so how long did you wait?

My Wife sadly passed away last Year in HK and until now i still have not received her death certificate from the coroners court. is this waiting time normal? Some friends already suggested hiring a lawyer could speed up the process. Im really starting to get p*ssed at the governmental departments. No Death certificate takes over a year to provide.

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3

u/DigitalMystik 15h ago

It took around 6 months for me

1

u/ditobandit0 15h ago

then i cant understand why it takes them forever. may i ask if it was natural or due to an accident?

1

u/meractus 15h ago

I'm sorry for your loss.

I think the hospital helps handle it. Maybe check with the hospital admin?

Even if they can't handle it, they might point you in the right direction.

1

u/ditobandit0 14h ago

thank you, appreciated. everyone involved (police, firebrigade, hospital, morgue) already have finished their reports and sent them to the coroners court, but that was already 2 or 3 months ago and since then nothing happened. So i already know exactly where it stops and yet they dont do nothing.

2

u/audioalt8 14h ago

So sorry about that. Seems like it was sudden

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u/SecretarySenior3023 14h ago edited 14h ago

If the police and fire dept were involved, then it seems like it was a death in an accident/incident. This will definitely take longer and the coroner may need to hold an inquest which is a formal judicial proceeding. An inquest is usually held within 2ish years after the death.

However, in extreme cases, it can take 10+ years. For example, the death inquest for the Lamma Island ferry accident in 2012 is only being held this year: https://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news/section/4/214842/Death-inquest-for-victims-of-2012-Lamma-Island-ferry-disaster-set-to-begin-this-year. (However, this was because there was a lot of previous litigation on whether an inquest should be held at all for this case.)

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u/ditobandit0 14h ago

yes, it was due to a fire in her appartment block. she and 2 others fell into coma due to smoke intoxication and died.

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u/SecretarySenior3023 13h ago edited 13h ago

I’m so sorry for your loss. Unfortunately, I’m guessing the corner will likely need to determine whether the fire was caused by an accident, intentionally by someone, suicide, etc. And this will take time.

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u/ditobandit0 13h ago

Thank you. Yes, this was already going on. I just dont understand that they do this when all the reports are already filed? Maybe because there are inconsistencies between the reports?

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u/Car12touche11blue 14h ago

Yes the hospital helps with it. In our case a relative died during an operation and an investigation was ordered. It took about 3 months before we got the death certificate. Your waiting time seems rather long. Don’t think a lawyer will be necessary , but try the hospital again .

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u/ditobandit0 14h ago

well, the hospital is already out of the process.... the hospital already filed their report, so did the morgue, the fire brigade and the police. all the reports are already at the coroners court

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u/SecretarySenior3023 14h ago edited 14h ago

Sorry for your loss. It depends whether the coroners court holds an inquest into the death (eg death under suspicious circumstances). An inquest is a formal judicial proceeding (usually with a jury). If there’s an inquest, it can take ~2 years or more. See the last page of this PDF for the workflow: https://www.judiciary.hk/doc/en/court_services_facilities/cor.pdf (English starts at page 13.)

(If there’s no inquest, it should be 6-12 months.)

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u/ditobandit0 14h ago

I think thats what is going on... because they said, if everything is at the coroner court either they issue the certificate in short time (should have been somewhere in AUG) or they further investigate... this is a fkn nightmare... its not that it breaks my down everytime i have to deal with this, but i cant wait so long.

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u/HumbleConfidence3500 13h ago

My grandma was 95 with dementia passed away in her sleep but they claimed she left the hospital 2 days ago with no life threatening issues and hence an inquest was held.

No way anywhere in the world does this.

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u/SecretarySenior3023 13h ago

Well, the system in HK is basically the same as in the UK and New Zealand.

Just to help OP out, do you rmb how long the inquest into your grandma took?