Advice on Birth Certificate please.......

[EllieKthePA]

have to register ds2 within 6 weeks
ex p is presuming i will let him attend and go on birth cert. i'm not so sure

both me and his parents feel he has done nothing so far to deserve the acknowledgement of being ds2's father.

can he be added to the cert. later in ds2's life or is it now or never?

Its a legal requirement i think...could be wrong but he has to be in attendance with you to put his name on......im quite positive that it is a legal issue and not a choice issue,
Some one will be along who will know im sure......

Ellie - the official line is here
I hope that helps to answer your questions.

nope, you can register ds's birth without him but it does state
father unknown on the birth cert I think
to name him, he has to be there
You can do it without him and he can be added later

i know he has to be there, perhaps i didn't explain very well,

he's being a complete muppet at mo and has done nothing to deserve the recognition of 'father' but if in a year he has made more of an effort, can i add him on then?

Yes, you could add him in later. You'd need to fill-in "GRO Form 185" for re-registration which you'd both need to sign and date, then both attend the register office where your DS was originally registered (You can go to onother register office instead but they need to forward the forms to the office where the birth was originally registered).

thank you

If XP is being a pain you could perhaps tell him politely that once he's on the certificate he is at the mercy of the CSA forever... My DS dad is not on the birth certificate as we were not exactly best pals when DS was born, also his dad was really broke with massive debts and so was I... however, DS dad is now proving himself to be a great dad and the only reason we haven't added him on to the cert is that we are both abit slack and haven't got round to it.

the csa will be the least of his worries, his parents are far worse to contend with!

i've spoken to them about it now and they both agree that he should be left off for now. i'm meeting with them on thursday and will suggest that he pays them money for ds and they give it to me. they are adamant that he should be financially supporting us, tho i'm not so worried, i'd rather know where i stand financially than rely on his money and it not arrive.

The only thing I would worry about is how it will look to your child when he gets older, if you've deliberately left his father's name off.

I would think it would look petty. I think in that situation I would rather have my father's name on the birth certificate, then if he doesn't bother to be a decent father that's up to him. I would feel upset to think that my mother knew who my father was, regardless of how useless or non-cooperative he was, but didn't do me the courtesy of naming him on the certificate immediately. It feels a bit like points-scoring, and I just think everyone has the right to have his parents legally acknowledged, for better or worse.

That way you as the mother would be doing the right thing, and any shortcomings on his part would be evidently his. You could have the moral high-ground!

Just a thought!

i have thought about it long and hard.
and if the certificate is amended it is then that copy that exists, the old one doesn't exist anymore.