Changes to 75-year-old legislation will allow for short-form death certificates and help the families of the deceased settle their affairs quicker.

Walter Roban, the Minister of Home Affairs, pushed for the amendments to the Registration of Births and Deaths Act 1949 as he outlined his ministry’s budget for the 2024-25 time period.

He said that short-form death certificates, which were listed as a goal in the most recent Throne Speech, would be pushed for by the latter half of the year.

Mr Roban said: “When the coroner’s office or the Magistrates’ Court are reviewing a particular death and the autopsy is not completed, the Registrar General’s department is not sent the vital details to process or issue a death certificate until receipt of the Form E – notice of death – from the Coroner’s Office, Magistrates’ Court or medical practitioner.

“These reviews or inquests on the body of a deceased person can take months and sometimes years to conclude, which delays the Registry General from registering the death and issuing a death certificate and hinders families from settling the business affairs of their deceased loved one.”

He added: “A short-form death certificate is an abbreviated death certificate that will only include the facts of the death or the demographic, but not the cause of death.

“Amending the act to introduce a short-form death certificate that confirms an individual is deceased will assist these families who may have suffered a loss to issue a death certificate to settle the affairs of a deceased loved one.”

The amendment of the act would also allow adults to alter their names in the Birth Registry without the need for a deed pole.

Mr Roban said that deed poles could be “costly and time-consuming” for individuals hoping to change their names, which could help with misspellings, identity changes or applying for new government documents.

He added: “The required change of name could be made almost immediately and at less expense to a person.”

Mr Roban said that the voluntary registration of important dates would continue to be pushed online through the creation of a vital-events registration website.

The registry will let Bermudians list important events that happen abroad into the Bermuda Government’s database.

Mr Roban said that a proposed legislative amendment to allow for a voluntary registry would be introduced in the third quarter of the parliamentary year and would strengthen the Vital Events Project.

He explained: “Currently, relevant Bermuda legislation only requires that the registrations of adoptions, births, deaths, name changes, marriages that occur in Bermuda.

“However, Bermudians migrate, we travel, we settle in other countries, and in such cases, information around vital events that occur outside of Bermuda is lost.

Individuals can register with payment, inspect supporting documents and extract information through the website.

Key documents and records are continuing to be digitised.

The website will also streamline the ability to register important events and cut down on the cost of work.

The website is expected to go live in the 2024-25 Budget year.