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Original poster

Birth reregistration following marriage

26 replies

Staceyje · 29/01/2023 09:33

Hello

Looking for some advice/support.
we got married in 2015 and had two children before we married and had one child after marriage.

I’ve been advised that I will need to re-register my two children born before marriage so that they become a child of marriage and all 3 children will then have equal rights of intestacy in the future.

My question is has anyone who had children done this? Would you advise/recommend I do. I have checked the gov website and it appears to be a legal requirement.

its free to do and seems straightforward but my two reservations are:
my eldest is 10 years old and therefore the date of registration on his birth certificate would be 10 years after he was born
it somehow feels like im messing up their birth record with a date some 10 and 8 years after they were born, is this something that they might have an issue or questions about in the future?

Any experiences of people who have re registered their children would be much appreciated 👍🏻

OP posts:
MarleneH · 18/10/2023 14:30

Hi, messing up birth certificate? It’s a document you will probably never need again. I’m 30 and have never seen my BC, nor does my mother know where it is.

YetMoreNewBeginnings · 18/10/2023 14:38

If their father is on their birth certificates then at those ages it’ll make no difference to intestacy rights.

It used to be in years gone by even if he was on the birth cert the father didn’t get parental rights and children didn’t have a right to inherit, but that’s no longer the case.

We haven’t bothered reregistering DS. Theoretically we could get fined, but it’s about £10 fine and makes no difference to DD.

xLMCx · 18/10/2023 14:44

I have my appointment to do this for my son on Friday! All I know so far is that we have to pay for a new birth certificate with the updated details (£11). I'll update on here once done with more info x

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WarningOfGails · 18/10/2023 14:48

YetMoreNewBeginnings · 18/10/2023 14:38

If their father is on their birth certificates then at those ages it’ll make no difference to intestacy rights.

It used to be in years gone by even if he was on the birth cert the father didn’t get parental rights and children didn’t have a right to inherit, but that’s no longer the case.

We haven’t bothered reregistering DS. Theoretically we could get fined, but it’s about £10 fine and makes no difference to DD.

This is my understanding too. We haven’t done it. Anyway we have made a will.

MarleneH · 26/10/2023 21:21

Hi will you let me know how it goes please x

xLMCx · 27/10/2023 08:06

Sorry, forgot to give my update. So the re-registering process is exactly the same as the first time that you register your newborn but you do have the opportunity to update your occupations and in my case, marital status and surname (had to provide marriage certificate as evidence of this). The new birth certificate is dated from that day but it will show on the system as a re-registering so it will not cause any issues with applying for passports and what not. You can keep the old birth certificate for your records but it is classed as invalid and only the most recent one will be used. The passport office will use the same system that the registration office use to verify the child's identity for the new/renewal of passport according to the re-registration birth certificate. Hope that makes sense :) oh and you do have to pay for new certificates too £11 each at my office.

TimeForACider · 27/10/2023 08:45

I never even knew this was a thing.

Bobtheamazinggingerdog · 27/10/2023 08:48

MarleneH · 18/10/2023 14:30

Hi, messing up birth certificate? It’s a document you will probably never need again. I’m 30 and have never seen my BC, nor does my mother know where it is.

What? How did you get a passport without one?

wideawakeinthemiddleofthenightagain · 27/10/2023 09:01

We didn't bother as (now) DH was already on their birth certificates and we have wills so I couldn't see what difference it makes. Actually, I could see a difference - that it would cause confusion as to why they had a different birth certificate to their actual birth certificate.
Every now and again (like now) I have a bit of a panic as I'm usually someone who likes to have all of their paperwork in order.

BramblyHedge · 27/10/2023 09:37

We didn't do this as DH had parental responsibility. I also felt personally that it is a bit like being ashamed of having kids out of wedlock and atoning by legitimising them. Which isn't how I feel. 100% this is about how I feel about me and not a judgement on what anyone else decides

SlashBeef · 27/10/2023 09:47

We haven't done this either. DH is on their birth certificates. It does mean DC4 is our only "legitimate" child though 😅
I can't see how it can impact inheritance if you're both on their birth certificates and you make a will, though maybe it can??

SleepingStandingUp · 27/10/2023 09:56

MarleneH · 18/10/2023 14:30

Hi, messing up birth certificate? It’s a document you will probably never need again. I’m 30 and have never seen my BC, nor does my mother know where it is.

You need birth certs for lots of stuff. Passport, marriage, DBS checks....

Superscientist · 27/10/2023 10:38

I registered my daughters birth in 2020 and was told that if we got married or had a civil partnership at that registry office I could apply to be put as married to the dad and if I changed my name have that added too. They didn't mention any other reasons why it would be necessary to do so. I have since had a civil partnership at that registry office and it wasn't mentioned as a thing we might want or need to do knowing we already had a child together. We haven't changed her birth certificate as I've kept my surname and don't feel the need to add that we are civil partners to her birth certificate
Since ~Feb 2023 they changed the rights of unmarried families in terms of bereavement payments to be the same as married. This has been back dated I think to 2016

YetMoreNewBeginnings · 27/10/2023 11:00

SlashBeef · 27/10/2023 09:47

We haven't done this either. DH is on their birth certificates. It does mean DC4 is our only "legitimate" child though 😅
I can't see how it can impact inheritance if you're both on their birth certificates and you make a will, though maybe it can??

It used to be the case that even being named on the birth certificate didn’t give the father PR and didn’t give the child inheritance rights in the case of the father dying intestate, but that’s not the case anymore.

Bobtheamazinggingerdog · 27/10/2023 11:21

Surely your DH needs to make sure he has a Will to avoid intestacy and that's it?

RedPinkPeach · 27/10/2023 11:28

Parental responsibility doesn’t determine whether or not a child inherits under intestacy rules.

meditrina · 27/10/2023 11:35

It's still a legal requirement for children to be reregistered if their parents subsequently marry. But I'm sure that's only still the law because no-one has ever got around to clearing it off the books.

If you ignore it, you can be fined - all of £2.

It makes no difference to intestacy arrangements, as all DC whether born within a marriage or not, will be treated the same.

The only time the old difference between legitimate, legitimated and illegitimate makes any difference is in relation to certain royal and aristocratic titles and ancient estates. So in practice it's something that just about everyone can safely ignore

YetMoreNewBeginnings · 27/10/2023 11:40

RedPinkPeach · 27/10/2023 11:28

Parental responsibility doesn’t determine whether or not a child inherits under intestacy rules.

I wasn't saying they did. Being on the birth certificate didn't give the father PR nor did it give the child inheritance rights.

the father being on the birth certificate now does both of those things.

RandomMess · 27/10/2023 11:42

We had to re-register ours because they were getting passports and neither of us had one.

Don't your DC know that you got married after they were born? It isn't a big deal.

RedPinkPeach · 27/10/2023 11:51

RedPinkPeach · 27/10/2023 11:28

Parental responsibility doesn’t determine whether or not a child inherits under intestacy rules.

I was responding to the OP.

I’ve been advised that I will need to re-register my two children born before marriage so that they become a child of marriage and all 3 children will then have equal rights of intestacy in the future.

It is not true that a father needs to be on the birth certificate (have PR) for a child to inherit from them should the father die intestate.

RedPinkPeach · 27/10/2023 12:03

The Family Law Reform Act 1987 gives the same inheritance rights to illegitimate children as to legitimate children, whose parents or other blood relative die intestate.

Family Law Reform Act 1987

An Act to reform the law relating to the consequences of birth outside marriage; to make further provision with respect to the rights and duties of parents and the determination of parentage; and for connected purposes.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1987/42

MarleneH · 27/10/2023 12:57

You only need bc for first passport, after that you just update it.

Mrsjayy · 27/10/2023 13:00

TimeForACider · 27/10/2023 08:45

I never even knew this was a thing.

Neither did I, , I have 1 out 1 in , the outty got married this year so it's probably too late now!

Sconehenge · 27/10/2023 13:04

SleepingStandingUp · 27/10/2023 09:56

You need birth certs for lots of stuff. Passport, marriage, DBS checks....

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Yes usually also for visas if you ever want to live or work overseas

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