How to Amend a Minor's Birth Certificate to Reflect Bio Father's Last Name
My question involves name change laws in the State of: Maryland and Washington DC
I was married at the time of my son's birth. The birth certificate reflects his legal father's name. But I want to change that.
What I have already accomplished:
1. Court ordered DNA test with the biological father in state of MD (of which I am a resident). The judge gave me a somewhat confusing order saying that the bio is indeed the bio dad but since my son was born in DC they do not have the authority to order them to amend the birth certificate.
2. Legal name change. Again my son's last name now reflect his bio dad'a last name.
3. Divorce. The papers state that we do not have any children together.
I went to DC court and the free attorney over there told me that since I am not the resident of DC I cannot start the case in DC.
I went to MD court. They told me again that since my son was born at a DC hospital they do not have any authority over them.
I even talked to a paid(!!!) lawyer who told me that there is no way to amend a birth certificate (!!!) and when I showed him an application to amend a BC that I took at a DC court, he quickly replied that it would cost me a lot (!!!) to do that.
Plus I recently realized that they made some small mistakes on the BC that is instead of male they put female, incorrectly spelled my maiden name, etc.
All the cases were not contested by either legal or bio dads. No child support issue. Everyone is in agreement except that my ex husband is a bit tired of signing and notarizing tons of papers. He wants to just get over it and live his life.
BTW, my son is turning 2 and I have read somewhere that some states have time limitations on such cases.
Re: Amend Minor's Birth Certificate to Reflect Bio Father's Last Name
you need to change who the legal father of the child is. Then you can amend the birth certificate to reflect the (new) legal father's name.
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Plus I recently realized that they made some small mistakes on the BC that is instead of male they put female,
that's a small mistake? Sorry but that is a HUGE mistake and something you need to get taken care of. I am amazed you did not notice this on the birth certificate immediately. Due to the indication the child is female, that is how the child will legally be treated in the future unless you get that changed. That would mean your son would not be able to marry a woman (with the exception of the few states that allow homosexual marriages).
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1. Court ordered DNA test with the biological father in state of MD (of which I am a resident). The judge gave me a somewhat confusing order saying that the bio is indeed the bio dad but since my son was born in DC they do not have the authority to order them to amend the birth certificate.
was this a legal adjudication of who the legal father is? If so, that and an application to amend the BC should take care of the matter. Of course, since the BC is from DC the action must be undertaken in BC. The judge is correct that MD does not have the authority to amend the BC.
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2. Legal name change. Again my son's last name now reflect his bio dad'a last name.
names are irrelevant
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3. Divorce. The papers state that we do not have any children together.
is that why the DNA test?
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There are several provisions in the District of Columbia statue whereby corrections, amendments and/ or changes may be made to birth and death certificates. Vital Records encourages you to mail your correction request or call Vital Record’s Customer Service line at (202) 442-9303. Vital records will gladly explain and forward all the necessary information to you on how to make corrections and amendments.
Other than it really bugs me they misspelled statute and wrote statue on a .gov website, it would appear calling that number would be your next step.
Re: Amend Minor's Birth Certificate to Reflect Bio Father's Last Name
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jk
you need to change who the legal father of the child is. Then you can amend the birth certificate to reflect the (new) legal father's name.
How do I accomplish that? In which court (DC or MD)? The Paternity/DNA papers state: "The parties in this matter appeared before the Court on *** and DNA testing was ordered with the probability of paternity being 99.99% positive that John Doe is the bio father of Doe John. The parties have also been advised that the State of MD does not have authority to order DC to issue an amended BC based on these DNA tests but the test results clearly indicate that John Doe is the bio dad of Doe John".
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jk
that's a small mistake? Sorry but that is a HUGE mistake and something you need to get taken care of.
I will fix it. There is no problem with that. I just show hospital records.
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jk
was this a legal adjudication of who the legal father is? If so, that and an application to amend the BC should take care of the matter. Of course, since the BC is from DC the action must be undertaken in BC. The judge is correct that MD does not have the authority to amend the BC.
I do not know. See the comment earlier from DNA/Paternity case.
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jk
is that why the DNA test?
No. The DNA was done before so that the question on the divorce application regarding having children would correctly state that we did not have any. (lawyer's advice)
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jk
Other than it really bugs me they misspelled statute and wrote statue on a .gov website, it would appear calling that number would be your next step.
Called them and even went there. They refused and gave me a paper asking to provide a court order to amend and correct the bio dad's info.
Re: Amend Minor's Birth Certificate to Reflect Bio Father's Last Name
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Called them and even went there. They refused and gave me a paper asking to provide a court order to amend and correct the bio dad's info.
I am not certain if the order you have is simply a statement to prove your husband is not the father or if it went and actually adjudicated the bio father as the legal father. They are two different actions and given you were involved in a divorce, I suspect it might be only that it determined your husband to not be the father of the child. Take the order to a court in your state and ask them if they can tell you if it determines the bio father to be the legal father of the child or is it just a statement that was used to prove the current legal father is not the biological father. They may tell you they cannot give legal advice. If you cannot get an answer from them, you have little choice but to have a MD attorney read the order and interpret it for you.
if it establishes the bio father as the legal father, then that is the order used to amend the BC., If it does not establish the bio father as the legal father, then you will need an order doing that.
Re: Amend Minor's Birth Certificate to Reflect Bio Father's Last Name
jk, thanks!
So now I have to clarify whether the DNA case adjudicated legal dad's rights (probably not). Then I file for amendment of the BC WHERE? DC? How do I go about not being a resident of DC?
Re: Amend Minor's Birth Certificate to Reflect Bio Father's Last Name
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nj83
jk, thanks!
So now I have to clarify whether the DNA case adjudicated legal dad's rights (probably not). Then I file for amendment of the BC WHERE? DC? How do I go about not being a resident of DC?
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I went to DC court and the free attorney over there told me that since I am not the resident of DC I cannot start the case in DC.
as you can see here:
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(b-2)
(1) Subject to the requirements of this section, the court may issue a judgment adjudicating the parentage of a child born to parents who reside outside of the District of Columbia in a proceeding to determine parentage, pursuant to § 16-2342, if:
(A)
The child was born in the District of Columbia;
(B)
Both individuals seeking a judgment adjudicating parentage have a legal relationship with the child through a presumption of parentage under this section or meet the requirements of parentage in subsection (e) of this section; and
(C)
Both parents submit to the jurisdiction of the District by consent in a record, by entering a general appearance, or by filing a responsive document having the effect of waiving any contest to personal jurisdiction.
(2)
Upon the determination of parentage under this subsection, the court shall issue a judgment adjudicating the parentage of the child.
(3)
This subsection shall apply retroactively to all children born in the District of Columbia on or after July 18, 2009.
free lawyer is just plain wrong.
You do not have to be a resident of DC to amend a birth certificate issued by DC. That would preclude anybody that had a child born in DC but living elsewhere then or at a later time to be prohibited from correcting the birth certificate. Not gonna happen.
but you are not looking to determine if dad's rights have been addressed but very simply, has he been acknowledged/named as the legal father. While that would typically infer rights, there are some situations that would preclude some of the rights of the legal father so what you want is whether legal paternity has been established irrespective of any rights that may or may not come along with that.
I would contact the office of vital statistics and ask them if they accept a court order from MD establishing legal paternity. If so, and your order from the court does that, then you present that and the proper application to the office of vital statistics. If they won't, then you would have to institute an action in the DC courts to establish legal paternity and then present that order along with the application to amend to the office of vital statitics.
and yes, DC does have a limit for much of the actions involved here and yes, it is 2 years so you need to get moving if you intend on doing anything.
Re: Amend Minor's Birth Certificate to Reflect Bio Father's Last Name
I showed the Office of Vital Statistics the DNA papers and the court order of bio being the bio. They refused to change anything and gave me a rejection letter "we would need a court order, ordering vital record to remove the incorrect father and add the correct father, and change the child name"
I got you with whether bio dad was addressed/named as a legal father.
If I file a case in DC to amend BC but they will ask me for more papers (eg establish bio dad as a legal father) and it would take me another month meanwhile my son turns 2, will I be rejected?
Re: Amend Minor's Birth Certificate to Reflect Bio Father's Last Name
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nj83
If I file a case in DC to amend BC but they will ask me for more papers (eg establish bio dad as a legal father) and it would take me another month meanwhile my son turns 2, will I be rejected?
that one I cannot answer for certain but I would think you would be ok. Filing a court action usually stops the clock regarding statutes of limitation but do not risk this on my statement. I could be totally wrong.
Re: Amend Minor's Birth Certificate to Reflect Bio Father's Last Name
DC will accept a properly written order from another state. The problem is the OP's order isn't written in a way that it directs the court to address the issues (adjudication of paternity, changing the child's name and ordering a new birth certificate to reflect the changes).
The OP doesn't need a new order from a new court, she needs the current order modified nunc pro tunc.
Re: Amend Minor's Birth Certificate to Reflect Bio Father's Last Name
:wallbang:
CourtClerk
What is OP?
How do I rewrite the order? Do I file the motion and just explain in my own words that I want the bio dad named as the legal father, adjudicate my ex husband from his paternal rights and request to amend the BC? The thing is that MD says they do not have the authority with regards to amending DC BSes but in the office of vital records they said it does not matter which state the order comes from.:wallbang: