Deceased Person's Passport

[atalanta]

What are you supposed to do with a Deceased person's passport ?

[Prudie]

Officially I think you are supposed to send it back although you can ask for it to be returned once it's been cancelled.

[Jeza]

Agree Prudie. That's what I did.

[treetops68]

Send it back requesting cancellation and stating why,they return it and advise you to detroy it.

[Peter Pedant]

I'm sure we have had this.

I kept both my deceased parents' passports and when I was accused of being related to international drug smugglers ( so the govt wanted all my money - even the stuff I keep under the bed ) and so when I showed them, they admitted that it was their mistake and not mine phew !

[Peter Pedant]

oh, it was immediately accepted that if I was related to my parents then I couldnt be related to the people of interest

[soapnumpty]

Yes I know my Mum sent my Dad's back after he died, but asked for it to be returned. They snipped the corner of the cover off & I think crossed through all the pages & sent it back to us. This was in 1983 though, so might be different now.

[diddlydo]

Just keep them under the mattress.

[DSJ]

I sent my parents' passports back to make sure that they were cancelled and so that they couldn't be doctored and used by anyone else.

[anneasquith]

I wouldn't even think of sending them back, id just keep them .

[Maydup]

It should be sent back with a copy of the death certificate in order to maintain accurate records. A passport is one of the most valuable documents around and really ought to be cancelled to save any ambiguity.

[EDDIE51]

It is an offence to just keep them, someone could use it to get illegal entry to the UK. By law you have to send them back to be cancelled but you can have them back to keep, the corners will be cut off and each page will be stamped 'Cancelled'.
A passport is never 'yours' in law, it belongs to the government , you are just the 'user' not the owner of the passport. If you read the small print it says something like ' this passport is the property of the government of the United Kingdom and Colonies'