Renfrewshire Council

Reasons for re-registering a birth or stillbirth

A person's birth or still-birth registered in Scotland can be re-registered if it:

• is affected by any matter concerning their parentage, for example, the entry does not contain their father's details
• shows, or implies, that they were abandoned
• shows, or implies, that their parents were not married to each other or in a civil partnership at the time of their birth but have since married or registered their civil partnership.

What is added to a re-registration

Re-registration is the creation of a new birth entry to add the:

• parent's or natural father's details
• details of the parents' marriage or civil partnership details if it took place after the birth was originally registered.

There is no cost to re-register a birth.

You'll need to complete an application to re-register a birth or still birth along with the relevant declaration form:

• Form 26 Declaration as to parentage by the mother of a child
• Form DPF Declaration as to parentage by father or parent
• Form 27 Declaration by father or parent of a child
• Form DPM Declaration as to parentage by mother

Who can apply for re-registration

If the person whose birth is to be re-registered is under 16 years of age, anyone who has parental responsibilities in relation to that person, for example, the mother, can apply.

If the person whose birth is to be re-registered is 16 years of age or over, they must apply on their own behalf.

If the person whose birth is to be re-registered has died, or was still-born child, application may be made:

• by the person's mother or, if the person's mother is married, by her husband if he is the natural father
• if the mother is dead, by a person who has been registered as the parent or father of the child in the birth entry concerned.

Where you can re-register a birth or still birth

When an application to re-register a birth or still-birth is being made to add marriage details on the grounds that the parents subsequently married one another, it can be dealt with by any registration office, provided that the father's details appear on the birth entry, either at the time of registration, or it has been subsequently noted in the Register of Corrections.

When an application is being made to add the father's details and paternity or parentage has been shown in the Register of Corrections etc, the re-registration can be dealt with by any registration office. 

In Renfrewshire, birth re-registrations are conducted at our registration offices in Paisley, Johnstone and Renfrew.

We strongly recommend that you make an appointment to ensure a member of staff is available to deal with you. See the contact numbers for each office at the bottom of the page.

Applications where the father is not named

Applications are dealt with by General Register Office where father is not named.

If the father's details did not appear on the birth entry at the time of the original registration or subsequently, and there is no decree of paternity or parentage granted by a court, then the re-registration application can only be dealt with by the Re-Registration Unit in the General Register Office for Scotland.

The parents should initially complete either set of declarations:

• Form 26 Declaration as to parentage by the mother of a child
• Form 27 Declaration by father or parent of a child

Who needs to witness and sign re-registration forms

Form 26 can only be witnessed and signed on the same date by the child's mother in the presence of a registrar or assistant registrar in any registration office in Scotland.

Form DPF can only be witnessed and signed on the same date by the child's father in the presence of a Notary Public, Justice of the Peace or a local Councillor.

Form 27 can only be witnessed and signed on the same date by the child's father in the presence of a registrar or assistant registrar in any registration office in Scotland.

Form DPM can only be witnessed and signed on the same date by the child's mother in the presence of a Notary Public, Justice of the Peace or a local Councillor.

What happens next

For applications that are dealt with by the Re-Registration Unit of the General Register Office for Scotland, when the application has been processed, the applicant will receive a letter confirming that the re-registration has been authorised and the applicant is advised to contact the registration office that they have chosen to re-register the birth. 

After receiving this letter from the General Register Office, applicants have 3 weeks to re-register the birth. If after that time they have not re-registered, the registrar will write to them asking them re-register within another 3 weeks.

Change your child's name to their father's name

These are the name changes allowed at re-registration:

• The mother's maiden name be retained as forename if it was given as the child's surname in the original registration.
• Both parents' surnames may be hyphenated and given as the new surname.
• Where the father's surname was given as a forename at the time of the initial registration, it can be omitted if the child is being given the father's surname at re-registration.

Change of forename or surname

Where a re-registration application is made to include a change of forename (including adding or leaving out) or to record a surname which is not that of the child's father, you will need to follow the change of forenames or surnames procedure.