Do we need to re-register our children’s birth?

[EsmesRedPetticoat]

DP and I are getting married in a few months and I will be changing my surname. We have 2 children together who already have the same surname as him but obvs my name on the birth certificates is my maiden name. Someone has just told us that if we want to apply for passports for the girls we will have to re-register the birth with my married name or we won’t be able to get passports. Anyone know of that is accurate? (They don’t currently have passports)

We had to re register DD1 and she already had DH surname.

It's to do with old laws surrounding legitimatcy and inheritance

When I got divorced I had to reregister our eldest two as a child of the marriage first.

Wow, every day is a school day! Thanks mn lovelies.

It comes down really to archaic laws that say even though both parents are named on the birth certificate and so have parental responsibility, they still aren’t legitimate unless the parents are married.
Grr.

I didn’t re-registered our first child, I vaguely remember the registrar mentioning it when we told her we were getting married soon. I didn’t change any details, my name or my child’s name or my title (I wasn’t Miss going to Mrs) so it seemed pointless. We had no problem with a passport application for my child either.

What do you do with the form when you've filled it in, where do you send it?

It's got nothing to do with passports or assumptions that Mum will change her name. I was married when I had my baby. I use my maiden name for work and my married name at home. The birth certificate listed me as "Firstname Middlename Marriedname, otherwise Firstname Middlename Maidenname" and my passport is still in my maiden name (so I used my maiden name when applying for my child's passport, even though I'm married). The requirement to re-register the birth is just about inheritance law. Plenty of women either don't change their name at all, or do as I do and use both.

Yes, you have to reregister so they’re recoded as children of the marriage. It is a legal requirement and theoretically not doing so could incur a fine, not sure it happens in practise though.
Nothing to do with surnames or passports though,

We got married after 2 DC born. I applied for passports for them just a few yrs ago with no probs. Ive never heard of such a thing.

It is to make your child ‘legitimated’ which is different to ‘legitimate’ which is when a child is born after their parents are married. It is ridiculously outdated.

Yeah last I checked it wasn’t a legal requirement to change my name so not sure what your point is there really. Anyway, thanks for the clarification peeps. We might get round to doing it at some point but as it won’t stop them getting passports there isn’t really a rush.

Agree with Kennehora why give them the fathers name then if it’s so “archaic”

Why not? They have to have someone’s surname. I couldn’t care what naming traditions anyone has, why so aggressive at families who choose to take the father’s name?

DPs surname is nicer than my surname. I wasn’t really asking for anyone’s opinion on name changes though.

It comes down really to archaic laws that say even though both parents are named on the birth certificate and so have parental responsibility

Years ago an unmarried father didn't get PR automatically by going on the birth certificate. Re-registering post married legitimised the child and gave the father PR.

Well yes so the law sort of needs to catch up there then. No biggie though, it’s not a huge change to make and certainly not a hill I’m ready to die on! And it’s for these sorts of reasons that we are choosing to get married anyway.

How do you re-register if you’re now divorced and have no contact with your ex? Can you just do it by yourself? Does it really matter if you’re now divorced can I just leave it?

It's about inheritance. If you have no wills, if either of you have children with other partners, or are of an age where you could potentially have more children in the future, then you should re-register your existing children to assure that the law will treat all of your children equally. It's really quick and straightforward, and you don't both need to attend. Ours took about ten minutes and was really straightforward.

Unless it's a question of a subset of aristocratic titles, or perhaps an entailed estate, there is no difference between DC of married or unmarried parents. They are already treated equally.

(Might be different in some countries, so might be worth checking situation in new country if you are planning an international move)