Quote Quoting cbg
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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
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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).

Quote Quoting asa_jim
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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!