Death and inheritance in Denmark

The loss of a loved one has both practical and legal aspects. It is therefore important to know the relevant procedures and legislation, so that you can deal more easily with the various aspects of the situation.

• Death certificate: When a person dies in Denmark, a doctor will undertake an inspection and fill out a death certificate which contains some information about the death. If the death has occurred at home, it is usually the deceased's own GP or an emergency services doctor who issues the death certificate. If the death occurs in a hospital, this will be done by a doctor at the hospital.
• Reporting a death: In most cases the death will be reported electronically, so it will not be necessary to submit the death certificate to the funeral authority, i.e. the priest with responsibility for recording deaths in the parish where the death occurred. However, there may be cases where it is necessary for the parish priest to receive the death certificate. You can contact the parish priest in the parish where the deceased lived for further guidance.
• Bank: Once the death has been recorded in the civil register, the deceased's bank accounts are usually blocked. Any joint bank accounts will also be blocked, so as a surviving spouse, you will only be able to withdraw money from these once the probate certificate has been issued.
• Access to Digital Post: When a person dies, all access to their Digital Post mailbox will be blocked. This means that the deceased person’s access is deleted, as well as that of any other persons who may have been given reading access. If, as a bereaved person, you wish to gain access to the deceased's Digital Post and mail from the public authorities, you must have power of attorney in respect of probate, which, together with the probate court certificate, is enclosed as documentation when you submit your request in the Digital Post Rights Portal. If an estate administrator, typically a lawyer, is appointed by the probate court, this person will have access to the deceased's Digital Post.

If the deceased has no close relatives, the municipality of residence of the deceased will notify the death and will also cover the cost of the funeral. In such a situation, it will also be the municipality that decides how the funeral will take place, and the municipality will take over the estate.

You can enter into an agreement with a cemetery and crematorium yourself, or you can leave these arrangements to a funeral director.

When requesting a burial or cremation, you must state where the deceased is to be buried. You should therefore contact the cemetery or burial ground where the deceased is to be buried and agree on the practicalities before making the request.

If the ashes of the deceased are to be buried, you must also state at which crematorium the deceased is to be cremated. Contact the crematorium for further details.

You can apply for assistance with funeral expenses if the probate court has distributed all the estate’s assets to the beneficiaries and the deceased person was entitled to Danish health insurance. This applies irrespective of whether the deceased is buried or cremated.

As a parent, you may be entitled to leave with unemployment benefit if your child is stillborn or dies before the age of 18. This is called compassionate leave. It is a medical assessment whether the death of a foetus is a miscarriage or a stillbirth. As a general rule it is regarded as a miscarriage if the pregnancy is less than 22 weeks.

Probate

When a person dies, the estate must be settled and distributed correctly – this is called probate. A number of factors determine the ways in which an estate may or may not be subject to probate, such as whether the deceased had drawn up a will, whether the deceased leaves a spouse or children, the value of the estate, whether the deceased had unpaid debts, etc.

It is the probate court that decides how the estate is to be settled. If, as a beneficiary, you wish the estate to be handled in a particular way, for example as an unprobated estate or a private settlement, you must inform the probate court of this. The probate court will then decide whether the requisite conditions have been met.

An estate comprises all the possessions, assets and debts that a person has when he or she dies. The probate court in the jurisdiction where the deceased lived ensures that the estate is settled and distributed correctly.

Inheritance and wills

If you make a will, you can decide how most of the inheritance you leave behind is to be distributed – but not always everything. If you have not made a will, the inheritance law determines who the beneficiaries are and how the assets of the estate are to be distributed.

Court fee and inheritance tax

The court fee is a fee that heirs normally pay when the probate court settles the estate. The amount of the court fee depends on how the estate is settled and on the size of the estate.

The estate tax, previously called inheritance tax, is a state tax that the estate pays from the inheritance.

The amount of the tax depends on how much the deceased has left behind and to whom:

• The estate does not have to pay estate tax on the inheritance of a spouse or a registered partner.
• In 2024, the estate was required to pay 15 percent estate tax on the portion of the inheritance greater than DKK 333,100 (DKK 321,700 in 2023) that was inherited by the immediate family.
• Of the inheritance to all others, the estate also pays an additional 25 percent tax. The 15 percent tax is deducted from the amount of the inheritance before the 25 percent is calculated.

If a Danish person dies in another Nordic country

If a Danish citizen dies in another Nordic country, the local authorities fill out the death certificate.

If the deceased was resident in another Nordic country, the authorities will not necessarily inform the authorities in Denmark of the death. As a relative, you can contact the Danish embassy in the country concerned. You can find a list of Danish embassies and consulates-general abroad on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

When a Danish citizen or a foreign citizen registered in Denmark dies in another Nordic country, the Danish embassy in that country will usually report the death to the Danish authorities. If this does not happen, the relatives of the deceased can contact the Danish embassy in the country in question (see above) – possibly via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Copenhagen – to draw attention to the lack of registration of the death in the Civil Register (CPR). The embassy will then follow up with local authorities so that registration of the death can take place in the Civil Register.
 

If a Nordic citizen dies in Denmark

If a Nordic citizen dies in Denmark, the Danish authorities fill out the death certificate.

If the deceased was resident in Denmark, the death registration takes place according to Danish rules. If the deceased was not resident in Denmark the death will normally be handled according to the rules of his or her home country, but the authorities in Denmark must still register the death if it occurred on Danish soil.

Relatives should contact the embassy of the deceased's home country for guidance on informing the relevant authorities.

Repatriation of the deceased

A laissez-passer document is required to transport a coffin containing a deceased person across national borders. Laissez-passer is however not necessary for transport between the Faroe Islands and Denmark, or to or from Bornholm via Sweden. Between Greenland and Denmark, laissez-passer is required. Laissez-passer is not required if the deceased person has been cremated in the country where he or she died, and is subsequently transported to his or her home country in an urn.

In Denmark, laissez-passer is issued by the Danish Patient Safety Authority.

Inheritance and probate abroad

When a person dies, the estate is settled by the authorities in the country where the deceased was resident. A Danish probate court will as a rule only settle an estate if the deceased was resident in Denmark.

If you have an inheritance case abroad, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommends that you make use of a local lawyer. The Danish embassies and consulates in the country concerned can help you to find a lawyer – but they cannot guarantee or be held responsible for the quality of the lawyer's assistance.

Please note that in some cases foreign authorities or private actors will ask for a European Certificate of Succession (ECS). This document is not issued in Denmark, as Denmark is not encompassed by the EU Succession Regulation.

Inheritance from another Nordic country

If you have an inheritance from abroad, it is usually distributed according to the rules of the country in which the deceased was resident at the time of death.

Inheritances are generally taxed according to the rules of the country where the probate takes place.

Contact the local tax authority for more information on inheritance taxation.