Sometimes it happens that a certificate received after the birth of a child needs to be changed. The reasons for this may vary. You should not be afraid that the process will drag on and replacing the document will turn into continuous bureaucratic red tape. The procedure is strictly regulated by law, and if you submit an application for a replacement within the prescribed framework, there should be no delays.

If the document is unusable

If the document confirming the birth of a child has become unusable, parents should:

• provide the passports of both parents and an application to the registry office at the place of registration;
• pay the state fee.

If the child’s information has not changed, the certificate will be issued immediately, without delay. If the parents applied not at their place of residence, the government agency will be forced to make a written request to the registry office at the place of registration, and the issuance may be delayed until a written response is received.

If a name change is necessary

If you need to change your child’s name, the procedure for updating the birth certificate will be longer and consists of the following:

1. Parents contact the registry office at the place of registration with an application to change the name and a receipt for payment of the state fee. If the name is changed for a child under the age of majority, the consent of both parents is required.
2. The application must be accompanied by an existing birth certificate and a document confirming the marriage of the parents or one of them in case of divorce.
3. The registry office considers the application for 1 month. If permission is available, a birth certificate with new data is issued, and the old one is confiscated.

If you need to make changes

If other changes need to be made, this is equivalent to a case where the name needs to be changed. To do this, parents need:

1. Obtain a decision from the court and the guardianship authorities to change the child’s data.
2. Register your expression of will if the changes are related to this factor.
3. Obtain permission from the registry office to change inaccurate data.

The application procedure is exactly the same. The request is considered within 1-2 months. If a negative decision is made, it must be presented to the parents in writing with explanations.

If changes are made to the birth certificate, the person submitting the application pays a state fee. The exception is when an error was made when filling out the document itself.

If you need to put a dash in the “father” column

Replacement of a certificate for this reason is rare, but it does happen. Before submitting a petition to the registry office, you need to go to court so that your father is deprived of parental rights. There are 2 more conditions under which the court can issue the required document much faster:

• if the father voluntarily renounces his rights;
• if an application is submitted on behalf of the person recorded in the “father” column.

If it is possible to take advantage of the two conditions specified in the last paragraphs, the time required to obtain a birth certificate will be significantly less than if you seek deprivation of parental rights through the court.

It is worth paying special attention to the size of the state duty. It will vary depending on the reason why the certificate needs to be changed and ranges from 200 to 1500 rubles. If the replacement must be made due to the negligence of the civil registry office employees and incorrect filling out of the certificate, the state duty is not paid.

Replacing a child’s birth certificate is a task that sometimes requires a long time. In this regard, advice should be given to parents who will receive or change a document for the first time. You need to check every letter on the paper. It must necessarily coincide with the data you stated; the baby’s patronymic name must be the same as the father’s name. If discrepancies are subsequently discovered, but the error is not the fault of the registry office employees, replacement may require a lot of time and effort.

If the document still needs to be changed, do not despair and “give up.” This is a common situation that is clearly regulated by law, and you are not the only one to whom it has happened.

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There are times when a child's birth certificate needs to be replaced. The cases for this are different and there is a list according to which this operation is possible. And since many people are wondering how to change their certificate, we will try to explain from a legislative point of view when this is possible and what is required for this.

General information and key points

A birth certificate is issued at the registry office upon the birth of a child. To do this, after your child is born, you go to the registry office with a certificate from the maternity hospital, where they give you this document. It indicates the child’s last name, first name and patronymic, place and date of birth, as well as information about the parents.

But there are situations when it is necessary to change the child’s last name or remove information about the father, in which case this information must be corrected in the birth certificate. For this operation, you can refer to the legislation “On Acts civil status» No. 143 Federal Law, which contains a list in which cases you can change a child’s birth certificate, and at the same time make amendments. So, replacing a birth certificate is possible under the following conditions:

• if the integrity of the document is damaged (scuffed, faded, laminated, torn, etc.);
• if the child’s first name, surname or patronymic has changed, this often happens in cases of adoption;
• a typo or error was found in this certificate;
• to correct data about the father, or rather to delete him from the certificate;
• other significant circumstances for updating the certificate.

For more details about all the conditions, you can ask a lawyer for free legal advice by phone or online.

Procedure for changing a certificate

Refers to this action you need to do it with complete seriousness and double-check every little detail in the new document. And if you are wondering how to change a birth certificate, you need to know the procedure, which includes the following:

• First, decide for what reason you need to replace the old document with a new one. The most common is loss or damage to the certificate;
• the second step is to contact the registry office. There you are required to pay a fee, the amount of which will depend on the reason for the application, and with a receipt for payment, write an application for the issuance of a new certificate on the spot;
• after this you will be able to receive a new document, but you should remember that it is better to contact this authority at your place of registration, as this will significantly reduce the time.

A birth certificate is the main document of a child from birth until the 14th birthday, when the first citizen’s passport is issued. Later, it no longer proves identity, but it can be useful - if, for example, you need to prove a family relationship between the holder of the certificate and his parents. Usually this document is one for life. However, there are times when a child’s birth certificate needs to be replaced. Let's see when this happens.

When does the certificate change?

The legislation provides for several situations when you can change a child’s birth certificate:

• the original document has become unusable or lost. The grounds are not so important here, the main thing is that the evidence cannot be used for its intended purpose;
• the original contains an error: the date of birth, the name of the child or one of the parents, etc. is incorrectly recorded. It is impossible to make changes and correct the original - no corrections or adjustments with the “Corrected Believe” marks are allowed by law for documentation of this level. The only way is to issue a duplicate with the correct data;
• changes have occurred regarding the child’s data itself. This usually happens during adoption, when the last name changes, but up to the age of 14, with the consent of the guardianship, parents have the right to change the child’s name. In addition, sometimes changes can be made to the patronymic (for example, if a mother who gave birth to a child out of wedlock gets married and the new husband adopts her son or daughter), and even to the date or place of birth (to ensure the secrecy of the adoption);
• other reasons. The law does not characterize them in detail. The main thing is that their result is such that it is necessary to replace the birth certificate, since the information is no longer reliable.

How to get a duplicate?

The easiest way to replace it is if you don’t need to correct any information, but just change the document itself. For this case, the algorithm of necessary actions will be as follows:

1. The applicant (mother, father, one of the persons equated to them, or the holder of the certificate himself, if he is already an adult) applies to the civil registry office staff.
2. There, the applicant presents his passport, as well as the document that needs to be changed (if it has been preserved at all);
3. An application form 18 is filled out;
4. State duty is paid. It is determined in accordance with the Tax Code and amounts to 350 rubles as of the beginning of 2017.

The certificate, if such a case exists, will be issued almost immediately - but only where the original was issued. If a person applied to a new place of residence, it will take time to receive information, exchange requests between registry offices, etc. Then the procedure for issuing a duplicate can take up to a month.

In passing, we note the following: both the original and the duplicate can be stored inside a special plastic envelope case (usually they can be purchased at an office supply store or even directly at the registry office) - but it is extremely undesirable to laminate them. Then the document may be considered damaged and a duplicate will be required.

Changing the child's full name

How to change a birth certificate if a child’s name changes?

If you not only need to issue a duplicate, but also receive a new document with different data, the procedure will be somewhat more complicated. Then you will need to present the following package of documentation to the registry office employees:

• statement;
• receipt of payment of state duty;
• consent of the guardianship authority (without it, the child’s first name, patronymic or last name cannot be changed);
• if the child’s age is more than 10 years, his written consent. Until this age, you can change a child’s name without taking into account his opinion;
• if the replacement is related to the mother’s new marriage, you need a marriage certificate, as well as the consent of the child’s father or a document on deprivation of his parental rights.

It will be possible to change the certificate in about a month, a maximum of about two will be required, but no more.

A sample application form No. 17 can be downloaded:

Replacement of the certificate if changes in data are needed

If the replacement of a birth certificate is due to the fact that it is necessary to change personal data, you will need to submit an application in Form No. 17, attaching a certain package of documents to it. These include (depending on the situation):

• the court's decision;
• decision of the guardianship authorities (that the child’s name changes upon adoption or other important circumstances);
• a document confirming that the name of the mother or father has changed, etc.

The entire package is submitted to the place where the certificate was previously issued. You can change the document at a different address, but then you need to be prepared for the fact that the replacement will require more time due to the coordination of data between the civil registry offices of different districts.

In addition, replacing the certificate will require that the child's old document also be submitted. After all the necessary adjustments affecting the name and other personal data of the child have been made, a new certificate is issued. Old document in this case it completely loses its force.

Replacing a certificate if the original contains an error

If the replacement is due to the fact that it is necessary to correct a typo or careless entry of data (name, date of birth, etc. is entered incorrectly), then the procedure will be approximately the same. An application in form No. 17 will be required, as well as documents confirming the need to change the data. The only serious difference will be that if the replacement is associated with the careless work of the registry office specialists themselves, then the state fee does not have to be paid: all changes will be made free of charge.

However, you need to pay attention to the following circumstance: if there is an error only in the certificate (for example, the name of the father or mother was incorrectly indicated), but the information in the record book is correct, then the decision of the head of the registry office will be made quickly, and the corrected version will be issued almost immediately. However, if the name or other data is incorrect in both the book and the certificate, you will need to apply to the court at the place of registration of the applicant.

Only after the court issues the relevant act will it be possible to submit an application to the registry office. Consideration of the case in court will also take some time - from a couple of weeks to a month or two, depending on the queue and workload of a particular district court.

Dash in the certificate

Finally, it is worth mentioning this replacement option, when a dash is placed in the column where the father’s name should be. According to the law, the father is entered on the birth certificate based on:

• marriage certificates: the mother’s husband is considered the father automatically, unless otherwise proven in accordance with the established procedure;
• statements of a man who wants to recognize himself as a father;
• according to the mother. Then the patronymic of the son or daughter is indicated as the mother asked, the surname is only the maternal one, but in the “father” column you can write down anything you want - this information does not oblige any specific man to anything.

Just in the event that the mother is not married and the father has not recognized his son or daughter, the corresponding column of the certificate allows a dash instead of the father’s name. This is not usually practiced: it is believed that this kind of document can psychologically traumatize the child when he grows up. However, for some situations, such a document is much more convenient for the mother than a regular one. For example, this makes it easier for her to confirm her status as a single mother if necessary. And that is why sometimes it becomes necessary to replace the father’s fictitious name with a dash.

In order for such a replacement to be made, a court decision will be required. The court must certify:

• that the real father is not against this;
• that the father is deprived of rights regarding family relations with baby;
• that the father mentioned earlier already disputes the record and does not want to recognize his son or daughter as his own.

This process itself is extremely lengthy and complex, so we recommend that if necessary, contact a lawyer or lawyer specializing in family law and related court cases. The lack of qualified assistance can lead to delays and numerous mistakes.

Dear readers!

All the information in our articles is devoted to typical options for resolving legal issues; it is impossible to consider each individual case in the article.

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