Deceased father added to adult birth certificate?

[Birthcert]

Hello does anyone know if it's possible to have a deceased father's name added to an adult child's birth certificate and how to go about it/costs?

My DPs dad died 12 years ago and was never on his birth certificate and it's caused him a great deal of distress his whole life, feeling like he has no legal connection to his father and father's family. It would mean a lot to him to have his dad's name added and his dad's family would be fully on board with it. Thanks

Can he apply for a Declaration of Parentage and then have a new birth certificate issued, do you know why he wasnt named.

How much does a declaration of parentage cost do you know? His dad unfortunately had a lot of issues and his mother never named him on the birth certificate as they split up. He met his dad again later in life before death and didn't get a chance to put him on then.

I don't think you can. This link www.gov.uk/adding-fathers-name-birth-certificate says that the father has to complete an acknowledgement of parentage.

The Court charges £365 for the initial application for a Declaration of Parentage. You can find the form online. It is a C63. The court will probably want DNA tests from siblings of the father. The DNA tests would have to be done by a laboratory the court approves. If the father had been paying Child Maintenance, the court might not want DNA tests. I'm not sure that going this route is a good idea. What happens if a DNA test throws up something unexpected? The Birth Certificate has become the focus of a lot of childhood distress that may not be fixed by a bit of paper from bureaucracy.

Thank you! Is it £365 just for the form or do we have to pay for additional costs on top? His father is definitely his father and unfortunately due to extreme issues it would absolutely help him to have his dad on his birth certificate. DPs mother has royally fucked him over in every aspect of his life so far and having a legal and ancestral connection to his father would mean the world to him.

Does he have a solicitor who could help him, they would know the process and who has to pay for the dna test.

I may have to email solicitors and see if they can offer any advice as we absolutely couldn't pay £365 X2.

You can apply for a discount or exemption for the declaration form if you are low earners or on some benefits

Thank you I will look into it as we both work full time but I need to apply for pip for him so we may have to just pay. I can put £365 on a card but I can't if there's going to be extra costs involved.

DNA tests are really expensive by the way so I doubt the £365 is the only expense. The birth certificate is only a record and doesn’t by itself prove anything. You can be a legal parent and not be on the birth certificate and ancestry is biological. I think he will find that even if he does go down this expensive route that it doesn’t necessarily solve the issues he has with his mother.

@Skilovingmama

DNA tests are really expensive by the way so I doubt the £365 is the only expense. The birth certificate is only a record and doesn’t by itself prove anything. You can be a legal parent and not be on the birth certificate and ancestry is biological. I think he will find that even if he does go down this expensive route that it doesn’t necessarily solve the issues he has with his mother.

Thank you. I have looked at DNA and the cheapest I can get it is £250ish. I know you think it's just a legal document but you don't understand the huge importance it has to someone like dp.

Unless there have been big changes in the last few years, which I doubt; the £365 isn’t the only cost - you also need court approved DNA tests, which are not cheap. You’d also need one of his fathers siblings to be willing to take the test. I’d budget at least £1k for it, and if you both work full time, I don’t think you’d get much help with the fees.

It’s a slow process and to be honest, it doesn’t make as much of a difference as you’d think - I’d genuinely recommend therapy over this. It’s one of those things that feels massive and important, until you get the new bit of paper and get hit by a realisation that it doesn’t really change anything, nice as it is to have.

Thank you. I have looked at DNA and the cheapest I can get it is £250ish. I know you think it's just a legal document but you don't understand the huge importance it has to someone like dp.

Yes but I’m not sure whether that sort of thing would be sufficient when you are testing the DNA of his DF’s siblings rather than the DF himself. It might be more than that. Also, have the siblings agreed to be tested? If not, there isn’t much you can do.
I don’t doubt that he strongly believes that this will help/be a solution but I wonder whether it really will be or whether he will find that the issues are still there once he has got the certificate.

Also, there is always a risk that the DNA test will reveal that he is not in fact biologically related to his dad, which I am guessing would cause even more distress and upheaval. His mother may have lied to him or may not know his real paternity. I agree with the pp who said therapy is the best way forward for him, as he needs coping mechanisms to help him deal with what has happened to him so that he can be at peace.

The only alternative I can think of to the court route is to see if the statutory declaration of acknowledgement of parentage can be signed Bon behalf of the deceased father by his executor - in theory it is competent but it’s not the normal sort of thing an executor would do (and the executor may not have the information required to make the declaration) so you’d have to speak to the registrar’s office first to see if they’d accept it. I think you should speak to the registrar’s office in the first place anyway as I think you need their consent to Re-register the birth in these circumstances - I.e where neither of the actual parents are seeking to Re- register (even if you have a court order)

Does he share a surname with his Dad? If not a deed poll might be an alternative idea which would acknowledge his Dad and make him feel connected

If his father’s family are okay with it, would he consider doing something like Ancestry DNA along with his closest possible paternal relationship. It won’t have any legal standing, but might help him. They often have sales.

We tracked down our completely unknown biological paternal grandad in this way.