I think the family has to place an Death Notice and provide evidence. It is to combat nasty people claiming someone has died in order to cause distress.
Think it is a choice for the family to make - certainly here in Scotland where there is no obligation to insert a death notice in the local paper.
Wonder how many people would see it anyway considering how few people take newspapers these days.
Just one more thing........ ok so there doesn't have to be a PUBLIC death notice, but would a death have to be officially registered SOMEWHERE; i.e. the local registry or the main office of Births Marriages and Deaths , as in the one that used to be in Somerset House. Bottom line is ........ can I find out if someone has died!
Have just seen your last post indicating 2016. The BMD website only goes as far as 1984 - sorry! If a notice has been put in a newspaper, you could try using this link:-
I've looked on the iannounce site and everywhere else, or rather my cousin has, as she's a whizz with Ancestry and such like. She can't find ANY notice ANYWHERE for the person concerned. I've Googled everything i can think of too, so i was just wondering if there was anywhere else I need to check.