Re registering child’s birth after marriage?

[Faerie87]

Hello

Sorry if this has been asked before, I’ve been looking online for it too and can’t find a reason for doing it.

My partner and I are getting married next year, we have a daughter together, when we went to do the notification of marriage the registrar told us that it is a legal requirement to re register our daughter to show that she is a child of the marriage.

I have read that this has something to do with inheritance but I also have a Will in place, should that not be enough?

I will be taking my partners name and also gave our daughter his name so when we do get married we will all have the same surname, so I’m just not seeing the point to it? We also believe the days of illegitimate children and all that were in the past, so it has never really bothered us that we had our daughter before getting wed!

I understand that it is the law, but is it really relevant today?

Again apologies if this has been asked before :-) x

Dunno why this is required but no more right to inherit because born to married parents. Children born in marriage don’t “push” earlier children out. there is a presumption that children born in marriage are biological children of both spouses but it’s obviously easy to prove (or disprove) parentage these days with DNA.

@TittyGolightly i can't speak for all the other women. There is nothing wrong with my name, but i like my partners name.

I'm also not sending any message, it's only a name! You are looking for an apparent 'message'.

My daughter won't have my current surname, once we are married both mine and hers will change. I personally think it's better for all 3 of us to have the same name as a family. It was always the plan we would have a baby before getting married.

Following on from my first post, my husband also has an older son from a previous life, there was no marriage, so where does he fit in to all of this?!

And with the various conflicting posts on here, I'm.not sure who is what to believe!

Apart from that @Titty REALLY likes her name.

Re: having made a will - is it still the case that Wills are invalidated by marriage, so that after you marry you have to make a new will anyway?

Right..to answer some questions and to fix some poor advice for England and Wales:

1. Marriage invalidates your Will so if you make one before you get married you need to re-make it after (unless the Will is written in contemplation of marriage). The law assumes if you marry you will want your spouse to inherit which is why it voids your Will.

1. If you have a valid Will that stands. It does not matter whether the children are legitimate or not - if you have left it to them in your Will they inherit. Someone can challenge your Will, but they cannot write out someone based on legitimacy.

1. The only time legitimacy matters is if your Will leaves your estate to your legitimate children or if someone is claiming they are the child of a father not on their birth certificate (as they would have to prove they are the father's child). Children are children for inheritance whether they are legitimate, illegitimate or adopted unless you specifically exclude someone.

1. Technically you are meant to re-register if the parents get married which is an oddity. If you don't you could be fined - the law says the fine is £2.

Thanks @CornishMaid1 - just wanted to know the facts, there is not much to go on from the internet except articles that are quite vague and a link to the form you fill in to re register.

I hated DH's surname. He hated mine. We made a new one which we now share.

Anyone know what happens if all 3 children out of wedlock, but 1st is not biologically DH's??

I have read all the articles showing on google and from what I can gather what @CornishMaid1 has said is correct.

If you get married your Will from before the marriage is void, you will need to do a new one or amend your existing one to show you have got married.

You can leave to your children regardless of them being legitimate, illegitimate or not biologically one of the spouses.

The reregistration Of children should not affect inheritance but it should be done as a legal requirement once the parents are married, otherwise you could face a hefty fine of £2, although no one has actually been known to be fined as of yet!

The law requiring this was based on an old archaic law that did state that illegitimate children were not able to inherit, but thankfully this law holds no water in today’s society.

Anyone could contest a Will but it’s unlikely they will get anywhere based on this law unless as A PP has said you state in the will that you only want your legitimate children to inherit.

There is still not much to go on online, and I’m not a legal professional so obviously if something I have stated is wrong feel free to correct me?

I think it’s only come to light as well over the last week or so on Facebook!

OP I'll see if my parents have my BC but when I asked them about reregistering they said they never did it 🙄 can't be having my brother be more inheritance-worthy so I'll sent them the forms

Think I’m gonna have to ring the register office that we registered our eldest at tomorrow to check this out as can’t remember if we ever did re-register him only 12 years late if we didn’t!

It cost's a fiver to park for the registrar nearest here, in a town 40 minutes away. I think I'll risk the fine