Correction of error on birth certificate

Dear Mrs Macaulay,

I am writing on behalf of my sister with regard to having a correction of errors on her birth certificate.

The main issue at hand is that the mother’s name is incorrect. For whatever reason, the name of the mother given on my sister’s certificate is completely wrong. Attempts to have it fixed have failed.

We have read the Status of Children Act but notice that no sections or subsections seem to fit our case at hand. The act primarily deals with the paternity of ‘child and father’ only.  We have contacted the RGD but continuously receive the old, uncorrected birth certificate. We are at this point desperate to know how we can have this error corrected.

Both my mother and sister are willing to establish paternity through any and all means. I’m hoping you can guide us to the proper procedures to have the birth certificate corrected.

I understand your sister’s situation and her need to correct the error made upon the registration of her birth, as her mother’s name was incorrectly entered in the records and the incorrect name appears on each certified copy of her birth certificate obtained by her.  You say that you read the Status of Children Act. However, the Act has nothing to do with her problem.  The relevant act for her problem is the Registration (Births and Deaths) Act.

Pursuant to this act, under section 20, a parent or guardian can apply to the registrar general to correct the registration records when a child was registered without a name or where the given name was altered.  Such applications have to be made within 12 months of the registration of the birth, but if this period expires before the application is made, then no alteration can be made except with the written authority of the registrar general.  This provision clearly does not apply to your mother’s situation either, as it was your mother’s name which was incorrectly entered in her birth certificate and not either of you children.

There is also section 51 of the act which deals with correction of errors in registers of births and deaths and in registration forms.  The provision states that no alteration in any such book shall be made except as the act authorises.

It also provides that any clerical error discovered from time to time in any book may be corrected by any person authorised to do so by the registrar general, but subject to the applicable rules. In its final sub-section, it provides that an error of fact or substance in any such book may be corrected by an entry in the margin by the officer who has custody of such a book, but the original entry cannot be altered.  

This requires the payment of a fixed fee and the lodging of a statutory declaration in which the nature of the error and the true facts of the case are stated, and requiring that the error be corrected. The statutory declaration must be made by the two persons who are required by the act to provide and give information of the birth or death to which the error was made.

In relation to a birth, this is generally the mother and/or father of the child.  In the absence of such persons, then two credible persons who have knowledge of the truth of the case can make the necessary statutory declarations upon which to ground the application for the alteration of the error.

You have not stated whether or not your sister applied to the Registrar General’s Department for the error in the entry of her mother in her birth certificate to be corrected.  If she did so, what was their reply?  Your sister clearly had no satisfaction, as you say that she kept getting copies of her certificate uncorrected.

So what can she do?

Your sister should retain the services of a lawyer to draft an ex parte application by way of a Fixed Date Claim Form for her (I suggest to the Supreme Court which has inherent jurisdiction) pursuant to the Registration (Births and Deaths) Act and in the matter of the alteration of name of mother after registration of the birth of her child.

The application should seek firstly, a declaration confirming that your sister’s mother (state her correct name) registered as (state the incorrect name as it appears in the birth certificate) is one and the same person registered as the mother in Birth Certificate No. (insert the birth certificate number correctly) issued on the (date of issue).

The second relief should also be a declaration that the name appearing in the said certificate was entered thereon in error in the course of the registration of the birth of the said claimant.

The next claim should be that an order be directed to the Registrar General’s Department to make the necessary amendment/alteration so as to show the true identity of the mother of the claimant in her said birth certificate.  Finally, a general claim should be added for any other or further relief as may be considered just or appropriate by the judge.

I suggest this means because from experience, I know that this has been successful over time in effecting such corrections in birth certificates and in death certificates.  When the agency with legislative capability cannot act in any particular set of circumstances for whatever reason, then the court, the Supreme Court with inherent jurisdiction, is the place to go for a citizen to obtain the legal solution they require and are entitled to for the full enjoyment of their human rights.

So your sister (I assume that she is now an adult) should go ahead and have her application made on her behalf by a lawyer to the Supreme Court to have the error in her birth certificate rectified, without the need for them to go through a DNA test to prove your mother to be your sister’s mother.  You and your mother should assist your sister with the evidence supporting her applications, by adding your affidavits in support of her application, which must be supported by her affidavit in support of her application as the rules require. If she is not an adult, then the application must be done by your mother as the claimant.

I trust that the position and the way forward for the rectification of the error in the recording of your mother’s name in your sister’s birth certificate are now clear.

Good luck to you all.

Margarette May Macaulay is an attorney-at-law, Supreme Court mediator, notary public and women’s and children’s rights advocate. Send questions via e-mail to allwoman@jamaicaobserver. com; or write to All Woman, 40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5.  

DISCLAIMER:

The contents of this article are for informational purposes only and must not be relied upon as an alternative to legal advice from your own attorney.