Death Registration, Burial Permits, and Vital Records
The funeral director is the usual filer of the death certificate, and errors here are among the most common citation sources.
The filing chain
- The certificate is completed in New Jersey's Electronic Death Registration System and filed with the local registrar of the municipality where the death occurred, within the statutory filing period and before final disposition.
- The medical portion is completed by the attending physician, or by the county medical examiner where the death is reportable - sudden, suspicious, violent, unattended, or otherwise within the medical examiner's jurisdiction.
- The local registrar reviews the certificate for completeness, registers it, and issues the burial, transit, or disposition permit that authorizes movement and final disposition.
Records and corrections
- Certified copies are issued by the Office of Vital Statistics and Registry or the local registrar; the funeral home does not certify copies for the family.
- Corrections to a completed certificate go through the affidavit for amendment process with supporting documentation, not by rewriting the original.
- The establishment keeps its own arrangement, authorization, and embalming records and must produce them on request.
Worked example. A decedent dies in a hospital in one municipality while the family lives elsewhere and burial will occur in a third. The certificate is filed with the registrar where the death occurred, and the permit travels with the body to the cemetery.
Traps that cost marks: filing in the county of burial; letting the funeral director sign the medical certification; delaying filing because arrangements are unresolved; treating the permit as optional for out-of-state shipment.