Can I add fathers name to birth certificate?

divadee

the following is taken from here

Why do I need to re-register my child's birth?

There are two situations that may result in you asking for your child's birth to be re-registered.

• if you have married the other parent of your child since the birth (even if the natural father's details were originally entered in the birth register), you are legally required to re-register the birth. The new entry will show the new status of both you and your child.
• for children born outside their parents' marriage, a new birth record can be made to add the natural father's name and details.

divadee

Also found the following here


Re-registration after marriage

If the parents of a child subsequently get married it is necessary to re-register the child. It is necessary to do this even if the child has already been given the father's surname and no matter how old the children are at the time of marriage. The re-registration process is very straightforward and further details and the necessary forms (LA1) can be obtained from the register office. Re-registration after marriage is a legal requirement under the 1976 Legitimacy Act.

divadee

I dont think they publicise this very well do they!!!!! Not anyone on here knowing this!!!!

I think they need to make more of a song and dance about it if its a 'legal requirement'.

I think its one of those old laws that no-one bothers about in this day and age

squibbs25

crutches wrote:

i was told by our registrar that it was optional?

I was told the same too.

Had dd in 0ct 2002, married May 2003. Both times at registary office told i could re-register if we wanted to, not that we had to!
So never bothered. :rotfl:

Squibbs

emphatiC_hanK

divadee wrote:

If you do in the future get married (unlikely by the sounds of it from your words!!) you will have to register the birth again. This is for the following reason

The natural parents of a child who have married each other since the child's birth are legally required to re-register their child. The marriage legitimises the child immediately, therefore making the information in the original birth entry incorrect.

That's actually not true - the 'illegitimate' part, at any rate.

In this modern age, any children of parents that are were not married when they were born, are not deemed to be illegitimate. The Children Act of 1989, and later the Adoption and Children Act of 2002 saw to that - and so the sooner this particular myth is dispelled, the better!

However, you are correct in stating that it is usual for a birth to be re-registered if parents marry each other subsequent to the birth, although this is by no means mandatory either.

Incidentally, it won't be too long before the number of children born to unmarried parents each year will actually be in the majority in this country.

:A emphatiC_hanK :A

divadee

emphatiC_hanK wrote:

In this modern age, any children of parents that are were not married when they were born, are not deemed to be illegitimate. The Children Act of 1989, and later the Adoption and Children Act of 2002 saw to that - and so the sooner this particular myth is dispelled, the better!

i can only say what i have found on various websites (council ones as well). I think obviously a lot of councils need to be update their sites if this is no longer the reasons.

bulchy

Looks like we need to take a trip to registry office asap. DD is 15, DS 12, been married 11 years now:rotfl:
Sue

lisa_75

crutches wrote:

i was told by our registrar that it was optional?

we've been married 11 yrs and DD3 is 14!

whoops!

It is not optional. It is a legal requirement. If your children were born before 1st December 2003, until you re-register your husband is not the legal father of your children (the ones that were born before you married anyway).

The law was changed in 2003 to give unmarried fathers whose names are on the birth certificate the same legal rights as married men. However, this only applies to children registered after 1st December 2003. If your child was born before then, unless you have a parental responsibility agreement, an unmarried father has no legal rights and this is why re-registration after marriage is so important.

This is one of the reasons we re-registered as I wanted my husband to be able to sign medical forms for our kids and to be the one making decisions about the kids if I died, not my parents.