Changing the mothers name on birth certificate

shoe*diva79

My partner and I have a 16 month old daughter together - we are not married. When we registered her birth we both attended so both our details are present on the certificate.

I have now reverted back to my maiden name following a lengthy divorce becoming finalised. On our daughters birth certificate my surname is my married name. Is it possible I can change it so its my maiden name?

I have looked online but can only find info about re-registering the birth on the marriage of my partner and I which isnt on the cards.

building_with_lego

I'd ring the registrar and ask directly. It's a fairly unusual circumstance I would imagine, so may not be covered in FAQs. Let us know what you find out though!

meritaten

I would imagine that under the circumstances it would be possible to re-register - especially if your partner was the father and he went with you to authorise his name on the birth certificate. I am sure that I have read of this happening more often these days.

angelil

No idea if it's possible or not - but why would you want to try to 'change' your past (for your and your daughter's sake)? You were married to him at the time of her birth and nothing will change that.

Kimberley

All my children had my surname because I didn't want them having a different name to mine. I don't think you can change her birth certificate but you can change her surname anytime.

newbutold

Unless the registrar made an error when registering the birth, you cannot change the details on the certificate. However if you do ever marry the child's father you can re-register the birth and will get a new birth certificate with all your new names on it.

Also if the registrar had made a mistake and for example put you down as Jane smith instead of Jane bloggs, you would not get a new certificate as such, the entry would be amended and so would your certificate. They would put an asterisk next to your name with a footnote at the bottom of your certificate saying, for Jane Smith read Jane Bloggs.

meritaten

This is copied from the Direct.gov site and I believe it applies in this case

Changing a child’s surname

You can only change a child’s surname in their original birth record to correct a spelling mistake.
However, a child can be re-registered in the following circumstances:

• to record the natural father's details in the birth record
• following the marriage of the natural parents, if they were not married at the time of the birth

In these circumstances, you are able to change the child’s surname to the mother’s or the father’s – or a combination of the two – as long as both parents agree to the change. If the child is 16 years of age or over, his or her written consent must be obtained before the surname can be changed.

Mojisola

shoe*diva79 wrote: »

My partner and I have a 16 month old daughter together - we are not married. When we registered her birth we both attended so both our details are present on the certificate.

I have now reverted back to my maiden name following a lengthy divorce becoming finalised. On our daughters birth certificate my surname is my married name. Is it possible I can change it so its my maiden name?

I have looked online but can only find info about re-registering the birth on the marriage of my partner and I which isnt on the cards.

Doesn't it have your maiden name as well?

When our children were registered, my birth name as well as my married name was put on the certificate.

SallyCinnamon

OP, this isn't much help, but just wanted to empathise. I was still married to my ex when my daughter was born although we were separated (my OH is her dad, not my ex). I didn't want my married name on her birth certificate (as my surname), so I changed my name by deed poll before she was born. Good luck with it

Gloomendoom

Mojisola wrote: »

Doesn't it have your maiden name as well?

When our children were registered, my birth name as well as my married name was put on the certificate.

That's what I thought.

Mine says "Name, surname, and maiden surname of mother" and that is exactly what is written on it.

Shelldean

You can not change a correctly issued birth certificate.

My DD was born whilst I was married to her dad, in fact her dad registered her. We seperated when she was 3 mths.
I fell pregnant with twins (due just before her 3rd birthday)
My OH didn't want his twins having my married surname, and my EX still trying to control things refused to allow DD to change her surname to OH's. So I deed polled mine back to my maiden name, I then deed polled DD - WITH her dads permission.

Twins were registered in my maiden name, as was their younger brother 3yrs later. dad was not named as he couldn't get to the registrar office.

However when i married the boys dad in 2002. We re registered ALL of their births, into the married surname. This could be done as by marrying their Dad I'd legitimsed their births (registrars words not mine) They was issued with new certs in the married surname with their fathers details added.

I then tackled EX asking could DD please have the same name as her brothers. he did agree this time. And she was deed polled to the married name.

just means when she needs to prove who she is, she shows her birth cert in orginal name as well as the deedpoll stating new names. Never had a problem yet and she's 19 now.


edited to add - the boys can not get copies of their orginal maiden named entries in the registar, as it is no longer valid. That entry simply refers them to the later re-registered entry. And this is the cert that would be issued.
If DD wants a copy her is always issued in her orginal surname, as that was a correct entry and can not be changed