the above answer is based on personal experience BTW, when my daughter died it was being investigated by the police for nearly 2 years. We had her funeral after about 18 months with the statement of death interim certificate thing when they'd finished with her body, but the police investigation was still ongoing for another couple of months. We wer e only told on the day of the inquest that the investigation was over, and that the certificate would be sent to the registrar a few weeks later