Legal Issues for a Child Who Was Kidnapped at Birth (For a Novel)
I wasn't sure this fit anywhere else, but I hope someone can advise me. I will happily move if there's a better forum for this topic!
I'm writing a book in which (long story short) a character discovers as an adult that she was kidnapped at birth and raised by her kidnapper. The lady who kidnapped her was able to bribe an unscrupulous doctor into saying he delivered the baby at home, so she managed to get a real birth certificate, and subsequently a Social Security card. Through the years, the character use these documents to do all kinds of things: get a driver's license and passport, go to med school, get a job, get married, etc. Now that she (and the authorities) know the truth, obviously the birth certificate she's been using all these years is no longer valid, so what happens now? Will all the things she's done over the years be undone? How does she get it sorted out?
Re: My Novel Woman Was Kidnapped at Birth - How to Sort Through Legal Issues
If she had a legitimate pre-abduction birth certificate, then she can take that and convince the social security and DMV that this is her identity.
If she was abducted before the birth was recorded, it's going to likely take a court action to set things straight.
Re: My Novel Woman Was Kidnapped at Birth - How to Sort Through Legal Issues
Thanks for replying! Her birth parents do have her original birth certificate. Will her degrees, job, marriage still be legally intact even though she was using an invalid birth certificate when she got all those things?
Re: My Novel Woman Was Kidnapped at Birth - How to Sort Through Legal Issues
Quote:
Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Quote:
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
her accomplishments are still her accomplishments
her birth certificate would require correction.
Her association with the faux parent(s) with the SSA would have to be corrected as well as any place the faux parent(s) are listed as her parent(s).
Unless she somehow married a blood relative that wouldn’t change nor would most any other accomplishment
Re: My Novel Woman Was Kidnapped at Birth - How to Sort Through Legal Issues
Hi SilenceintheLibrary, I'm an author too.
What is the answer you want it to be? What set of events would make the story work best?
Re: My Novel Woman Was Kidnapped at Birth - How to Sort Through Legal Issues
Did she ever get a traffic ticket under the assumed name? Perhaps something more serious? It can be quite tricky to erase an entire lifetime's identity just be reverting to an original birth certificate. Has she ever been fingerprinted? Perhaps for a job or security clearance? Perhaps a petit theft when she was 19? That could be interesting as well...
Re: My Novel Woman Was Kidnapped at Birth - How to Sort Through Legal Issues
Quote:
Quoting
SilenceintheLibrary
Now that she (and the authorities) know the truth, obviously the birth certificate she's been using all these years is no longer valid, so what happens now? Will all the things she's done over the years be undone? How does she get it sorted out?
You did not mention a state, and of course it is state law that applies here. But the birth certificate is not necessarily “invalid.” Assuming the woman was born in the state specified in the birth certificate on the day provided by the certificate then the only error on the birth certificate is the identification of the mother (and perhaps father, if one was stated in the certificate). Thus, the only thing that might be nullified here is the identification of who her mother is. As she is an adult now, that really only affects her when it comes to inheritance by intestacy. It certainly won’t invalidate her marriage, render her medical degree or medical license invalid, etc.
Re: My Novel Woman Was Kidnapped at Birth - How to Sort Through Legal Issues
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Quoting
cbg
Hi SilenceintheLibrary, I'm an author too.
What is the answer you want it to be? What set of events would make the story work best?
Ideally I would like to make things go as smoothly for her as possible, as there is quite a lot going on in the story in general, and the emotional impact of finding out the woman she has always considered to be her mother is actually her kidnapper is overwhelming enough. I'd like her to be able to sort through the legal issues without too much difficulty. Of course the name on the second birth certificate is not the same as the one on her original birth certificate - but the name her kidnapper gave her is the name she's been called her whole life, so she wants that to be her legal name.
Additionally, the birth family is a bit loony, and she wants nothing to do with most of them. In the end she feels more loyalty to the woman who raised her, even if the circumstances weren't exactly legal. Although the kidnapper will have to serve a prison sentence, I am considering the possibility of a legal adoption eventually.
Quote:
Quoting
Taxing Matters
You did not mention a state, and of course it is state law that applies here. But the birth certificate is not necessarily “invalid.” Assuming the woman was born in the state specified in the birth certificate on the day provided by the certificate then the only error on the birth certificate is the identification of the mother (and perhaps father, if one was stated in the certificate). Thus, the only thing that might be nullified here is the identification of who her mother is. As she is an adult now, that really only affects her when it comes to inheritance by intestacy. It certainly won’t invalidate her marriage, render her medical degree or medical license invalid, etc.
Well, it is a little more complicated then that. She was born in Virginia and then spirited away to New York, so the place of birth is wrong, and the second birth certificate also has her DOB two days later than it really is (at least as I've written it now, though of course I'm only in the first draft). Also, the name on her second birth certificate is completely different from on the first. By the time all this comes to light, she is living in the Midwest (The series as a whole takes place in a fictional Midwestern city, and I've been intentionally vague about the state because it gives me more leeway with legal issues).
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Quoting
asa_jim
Did she ever get a traffic ticket under the assumed name? Perhaps something more serious? It can be quite tricky to erase an entire lifetime's identity just be reverting to an original birth certificate. Has she ever been fingerprinted? Perhaps for a job or security clearance? Perhaps a petit theft when she was 19? That could be interesting as well...
She most likely would have been fingerprinted for her job, but she has never broken the law. I certainly don't want her identity erased; that's actually what I'm trying to avoid!
Re: My Novel Woman Was Kidnapped at Birth - How to Sort Through Legal Issues
You are thinking it would affect much more than it actually would.
If there was a valid and real birth certificate registered with the state of birth, then that is still valid.
for all intents and purposes she has lived under an assumed name that doesn’t match her actual birth certificate. It really won’t change much. In many states a person can assume any name they wish whenever they wish. This isn’t much different.
But she has the benefit of everything in her life being under her assume name. A few corrections of vital statistics and away she goes.
If the legal parents didn’t obtain a SS number, then there is even less mess. Her current SS # would still be valid and the fact her entire life was lived using that number, all of her earnings would be properly credited to her a Account although under the assumed name. That can be fixed. If they did obtain a number and the kidnapper also did then the SSA can deal with that as well. There are actually some people that are issued a new SS # for various reasons. The SSA overcomes the issues involved.
Re: My Novel Woman Was Kidnapped at Birth - How to Sort Through Legal Issues
Quote:
Quoting
SilenceintheLibrary
Ideally I would like to make things go as smoothly for her as possible, as there is quite a lot going on in the story in general, and the emotional impact of finding out the woman she has always considered to be her mother is actually her kidnapper is overwhelming enough. I'd like her to be able to sort through the legal issues without too much difficulty. Of course the name on the second birth certificate is not the same as the one on her original birth certificate - but the name her kidnapper gave her is the name she's been called her whole life, so she wants that to be her legal name.
Additionally, the birth family is a bit loony, and she wants nothing to do with most of them. In the end she feels more loyalty to the woman who raised her, even if the circumstances weren't exactly legal. Although the kidnapper will have to serve a prison sentence, I am considering the possibility of a legal adoption eventually.
Well, it is a little more complicated then that. She was born in Virginia and then spirited away to New York, so the place of birth is wrong, and the second birth certificate also has her DOB two days later than it really is (at least as I've written it now, though of course I'm only in the first draft). Also, the name on her second birth certificate is completely different from on the first. By the time all this comes to light, she is living in the Midwest (The series as a whole takes place in a fictional Midwestern city, and I've been intentionally vague about the state because it gives me more leeway with legal issues).
She most likely would have been fingerprinted for her job, but she has never broken the law. I certainly don't want her identity erased; that's actually what I'm trying to avoid!
I have read more than one book that dealt with the issue of someone discovering that they are not who they thought that they were. Most of those works of fiction did not attempt to deal with the legal aspect of things. They dealt only with the emotional aspects.
In my opinion someone who has been "jane doe" for their entire life, for their entire education and for their entire life achievements is likely going to opt to remain "jane doe" on a legal basis.