How to change a child's name on a birth certificate in 2020

Family Law > Birth of a Child > Can I change my child's name on the birth certificate?

Immediately before issuing a birth certificate, parents must carefully check all the data indicated in the birth application.

This is important because all the information written by the parents on it is transferred word for word to the birth certificate.

In some cases, inaccuracies are noticed only months or even years later.

Regardless of who is guilty of the clerical error - an employee of a government agency or the parents themselves, who initially provided incorrect data, the document must be replaced.

In this article we will look at how to change a child’s name on a birth certificate, according to the legislation in force in 2020.

Where to contact?

Initially, it is necessary to obtain permission to carry out the entire process. Changing the child's name is allowed solely in his interests and only with the approval of the guardianship and trusteeship authority (CCA). This rule applies to children under 14 years of age. Older citizens will be discussed below.

Both parents must contact the OPP with a written request and indicate the reasons for making such a decision. If the mother and father live separately, and one of them contacts the guardianship department, the agency employees have the right to resolve the issue only taking into account the opinion of the other parent. It will not be needed in the following cases:

the whereabouts of the parent are unknown;
he is declared incompetent;
deprived of parental rights;
avoids raising and/or maintaining a child without good reason.

If the child is 10 years old at the time of contacting the OOP, the procedure can only be carried out with his consent.

After receiving permission from the guardianship authority, you need to prepare the necessary package of documents and contact the civil registry office (registry office).

Changes in personal data of citizens of the Russian Federation are subject to state registration. This function, in accordance with the law, is performed by the civil registry office. To change the name of a minor, you should contact the department corresponding to the child’s place of birth or residence.

Persons who have the right to initiate such a procedure in relation to a minor:

parents;
adoptive parents;
guardians or trustees.

Registration is carried out by the Civil Registry Office within 30 days from the date of application. As a result, the applicant is issued a certificate of change of the child’s name.

USEFUL INFORMATION: How to issue a child’s birth certificate: procedure and issuance

Is it possible to change the name on the birth certificate?

It is possible, such a procedure is permitted based on the provisions of the Family Code of the Russian Federation (RF IC). How to change a child’s name is described in Article 59. The simplest situation is when both parents agree to change the child’s data.

If the parents are divorced, and the one with whom they left the child wants to change his first or last name, then the other parent will be asked for consent.

Consent is not required if the other parent:

Without a good reason, does not take part in the child’s life.
Incompetent (there is a court decision).
Deprived of parental rights due to antisocial behavior, alcohol or drug addiction.
His whereabouts are unknown.

If the second parent does not give consent, then changing the child's name is possible only by court decision.

The procedure provided for in Article 59 of the RF IC applies to children under the age of 14 years. If the child is over 10 years old, his opinion must be asked.

Required documents

To carry out the procedure, you will have to collect a certain package of documents. Such papers include:

application in the prescribed form;
parents' passports;
the child’s birth certificate, as well as its photocopy;
consent of the guardianship and trusteeship authority;
passport of a minor who has reached the age of 14;
court decision (if mother or father does not approve).

Particular attention must be paid to filling out the application, indicating the following information:

Full name of father, mother and child;
home address where the minor is registered at the place of residence;
changes made to personal data;
the reason why the applicant wants to contribute them.

An approved application form is available.

For babies

In practice, the names of newborns are changed quite often. If the baby is several months old, then his parents need:

obtain permission from the guardianship and trusteeship authority;
fill out an application for a name change, which is presented to the registry office at the place of birth or residence of the child;
have photocopies of your parents’ passports certified by a notary and attach them to the application;
submit the child’s birth certificate to the civil registry office;
pay the state fee that is charged for registering changes (its cost is 500 rubles. However, before depositing funds, it is better to check the amount, since prices are updated following amendments to the law).

How to change a child's name?

If parents have such a desire, then they should contact the local guardianship and trusteeship authority for permission.

Whether they receive such permission or not depends entirely on the interests of their common child.

As a rule, if the name change is due to serious reasons, and both parents want it, then no problems with registration will arise.

Having received confirmation of the legality of changing the data on the birth certificate, parents should go to the registry office and write an application. The text of the application is drawn up in free form, since it does not have a set template.

The application must reflect your consent to change your child’s personal data. The application must be written on behalf of both the father and mother, and also contain the signatures of both parents .

If a married couple divorces, but no one is against changing the child’s personal data, then each parent will need to write a separate application.

If the father lives far from his child, in another city, so he cannot come to submit documents in person, then he has the right to send his application to the registry office via mail and first have the document notarized.

What documents must be submitted to the local registry office?

Original birth certificate to be exchanged. If it is not possible to provide it, then this should be indicated in the application.
A document that confirms that a date or word on a certificate is incorrect and that the error needs to be corrected. Such evidence can be: parents’ passports (if their data is incorrect, or the child’s middle name is spelled incorrectly), any information about the baby’s birth from a medical organization (if the date of birth is spelled incorrectly), etc.
The statement itself.
Permission from the guardianship authorities.
Marriage certificate.
Passports of both parents (original and copy).
Registration of a child or an extract from the house register.
If available, a divorce certificate.
If the child reaches 10 years of age - his consent.
Receipt for payment of government services.

Is it possible to change a child's name without the father's consent?

If the parents live separately and one of the parents wants to assign his last name to the child, he must submit a corresponding application to the local guardianship and trusteeship authority.

When making such a decision, they are guided, first of all, by the interests of the child (so that it does not traumatize the child and corresponds to his desire and affection), but they also listen to the opinion of the other parent.

The opinion of the other parent is not taken into account in the following cases:

if it is impossible to find his place of residence;
if he is recognized by the court as incompetent;
upon deprivation of parental rights;
if he deliberately evades the maintenance and upbringing of his child.

If a child was born to parents who are not legally married, and paternity has not been established legally, then the guardianship and trusteeship authority has the right to allow the child’s surname to be changed to the mother’s surname, which she bears at the time of making this request (both premarital and and acquired in a new marriage).

For children over 14 years old

There are cases when even at a conscious age it is necessary to call a person differently. If such a need arises, you should know that every Russian citizen at the age of 14 receives the most important document for himself - a passport. Of course, a child does not become an adult and does not acquire the rights that adults have, but he can decide on changing personal data himself.

USEFUL INFORMATION: Documents for registering a child at the registry office: what is needed to obtain a birth certificate

A teenager, having received a passport, has the right to change his name on his own, but he still needs parental consent certified by a notary. In this case, obtaining permission from the guardianship authority is not provided for by law.

What is needed to change your name

At first, I thought that I could easily change my name using the government services portal and several digital applications. As a result, everything turned out to be more complicated: I did not have a birth certificate, and later it turned out that it did not contain the same name as in the passport.

To change your name, you need to contact the registry office at your place of residence or place of birth registration. For those who do not have a spouse and children, the list of documents is as follows:

Application for change of name according to form No. 20.
A valid passport of a Russian citizen.
Birth certificate.
A receipt for payment of the state fee in the amount of 1600 RUR. The form and details must be obtained from the registry office to which you are submitting the application. I applied to the Meshchansky registry office in Moscow.

Documents required to change your name in public services

pp. 4 clause 1 333.26 Tax Code of the Russian Federation

Those who have a spouse or are already divorced must also provide a certificate of marriage or divorce. Those with children will need their birth certificates. Minors need written parental consent.

You must personally contact the registry office with documents: you cannot submit an application remotely through government services or the MFC. The registry office can take up to a month to make a decision on changing the name.

Where to submit documents?

Contact the civil registry office at the place of residence of the parents (if the child is under 14 years old), at the place of residence of the child or at the place of registration of his birth. The standard period for consideration of an application is one month from the date of submission, sometimes it can be extended to three.

If the civil registry office staff does not have any questions regarding your documents, you will be called to register the name change, issue a certificate of name change and a duplicate birth certificate. Registration of a name change itself will take no more than 60 minutes. The application can only be submitted in person at the registry office.

How to obtain the consent of the guardianship authorities?

The consent of the guardianship authorities to change the name of a child under 14 years of age is issued only with the consent of both parents or a single parent. If the child is over 10 years old, his consent will be required.

There is no exhaustive list of documents that may be required by the guardianship and trusteeship authorities. But you may be asked:

identification documents of parents (or one parent);
child's birth certificate;
a certificate from housing authorities about the child’s place of residence;
a statement from a child who has reached the age of 10 years of consent to change his surname or first name;
certificate of divorce;
certificate of new marriage;
certificate of paternity;
in case of parental divorce - notarized consent of the father (or mother) to change the child’s surname or name.

If you want the guardianship and trusteeship authority to decide to change the child’s surname without taking into account the opinion of one of the parents, then you will most likely need to submit one of the following documents:

a copy of the court decision to deprive a parent of parental rights;
a copy of the court decision declaring the parent incompetent;
a copy of the court decision to limit the parent's parental rights;
a copy of the court decision recognizing the parent as missing;
parent's death certificate;
a certificate from the bailiff service about the presence of arrears in the payment of alimony (to confirm evasion of education).

If permission from the guardianship and trusteeship authorities is received, you can contact the registry office to register a change in the child’s name.

MARRIAGE REGISTRY

The main task of this organization is to register acts of civil status of residents of the Russian Federation. Changing the child's name is one of them.

It is important to note that the registry office employees will not only have to make changes to internal documentation, but also issue a new form of birth certificate.

What documents are needed to change a child's name?

application (if the child is under 14 years old, the application for amendments to the birth certificate in form No. 23 is filled out by the parent, if older, he will have to independently fill out an application for a name change in form No. 20);
child’s passport (if the child is over 14 years old);
order of the guardianship and trusteeship authority (if the child is under 14 years old);
child's birth certificate;
identification document of one of the parents (if the child is under 14 years old);
information on payment of the state fee - for registering a name change and for making corrections to the child’s birth certificate (the state fee must be paid, a receipt is provided at the request of the applicant);
documents confirming that the child has acquired full legal capacity, if the child is recognized as fully capable.

If the child is over 14 years old, but not yet recognized as fully capable, you will also need:

passports of the child’s parents (legal representatives);
trustee's certificate (if necessary);
written consent of legal representatives (filled out in the registry office during a personal reception or certified by a notary);
documents confirming the change of the surname of the legal representative - a marriage certificate, a certificate of divorce (if the legal representative changed the surname and it differs from the child’s surname);
death certificate (if one of the parents died);
a copy of the court decision on deprivation of parental rights that has entered into legal force (if one of the parents is deprived of parental rights);
a copy of the court decision declaring a person incompetent, which has entered into legal force (if one of the parents is declared incompetent);
a copy of the court decision declaring a person missing (if one of the parents is declared missing);
a copy of the court decision on the name change that entered into legal force (if one of the child’s legal representatives did not agree with the name change and the dispute was resolved in court).

Certificates (certificates) issued by the Moscow Civil Registry Office do not need to be provided during registration of a name change if no changes are made to them and if they:

executed and issued after March 31, 2012;
reissued;
issued on the basis of a corrected (amended) civil status record for the period from January 1, 1990.

The exception is a birth certificate - to change your name you must provide it.

Registration procedure

To change a child’s name, you need to complete a certain list of actions, which differ in features for each age group. Let's take a closer look at them.

For babies

In practice, the names of newborns are changed quite often. If the baby is several months old, then his parents need:

obtain permission from the guardianship and trusteeship authority;
fill out an application for a name change, which is presented to the registry office at the place of birth or residence of the child;
have photocopies of your parents’ passports certified by a notary and attach them to the application;
submit the child’s birth certificate to the civil registry office;
pay the state fee that is charged for registering changes (its cost is 500 rubles. However, before depositing funds, it is better to check the amount, since prices are updated following amendments to the law).

For children under 14 years old

Essentially, in this case the procedure is the same as in the previous method. The only difference is that it is necessary to ask the child’s opinion if he is already 10 years old. In addition, after changing the name, it is also necessary to enter the corresponding data into all documents of the minor (medical, school, etc.).

For children over 14 years old

USEFUL INFORMATION: What documents are needed at the registry office to register a marriage: submitting an application

Features of payment of state duty

To change the name on the birth document of a baby or teenager (for example, a child under one year old), you will have to pay.

For the current period of time, the amount of state duty is about 1,600 rubles. If the document is issued again – 350 rubles.

To pay the state fee you can use:

terminals;
banking organization;
Internet network.

A receipt indicating that the state fee has been paid must be attached to the standard list of required documentation.

How long will it take to change your name?

According to paragraph 2 of Art. 60 No. 143-FZ “On Acts of Civil Status”, one month is allotted for consideration of a request to change personal data.

To begin with, an employee of the authorized authority must accept and check all documents, register the appeal in a special journal and assign a serial number to it. After this, the package of papers is sent for review. Once the decision is made, it will take no more than 1 hour to issue the certificate.

If there is no consent from the parent

When changing a name in this case, it does not matter whether the person is 14 years old or not. If one of the parents (adoptive parent, guardian, guardian) does not agree to make changes to the child’s birth certificate, the conflict can only be resolved in court.

To do this, the party who has an interest in the procedure must file a name change lawsuit. Only on the basis of an appropriate court decision will the registry office register the child’s new name. Therefore, if the second parent disagrees, this dispute should be resolved only by going to court.

The law provides for the possibility of changing the personal data of a citizen who has a passport without the approval of the father or mother. This is allowed when the teenager has not yet reached the age of majority, but is already fully capable. A similar situation is possible in the following cases:

a person who has reached the age of 16 years, who works under a contract, under an employment contract, or with the approval of parents, adoptive parents or trustees, carries out entrepreneurial activities, may be recognized as fully capable;
when a person has entered into marriage before reaching the age of 18, which is permitted by law. In this case, the person is declared fully capable from the moment of marriage registration. Such a union is always concluded with the permission of parents or other legal representatives, so obtaining it again is not required.

It follows that a minor citizen recognized as having legal capacity can change his name without anyone's approval.

Payment of state duty

The service itself of changing the name on the birth certificate for a newborn baby or older children is not free.

Currently, the state fee is about 1,600 rubles, and for re-issuing the document you will have to pay 350 rubles.

You can pay the state fee:

via terminals;
in the bank;
through the Internet.

A receipt for payment of the state duty must be attached to the general package of required documents.