Correcting New York Birth, Marriage, or Death Certificates
Correcting your Certificates
Birth Certificate Corrections
Many clients contact us because they find mistakes on their own birth certificates.
Common mistakes include:
- Your own name is misspelled or incorrect
- Your father’s name, age, or place of birth is incorrect
- Your mother’s name, age, or place of birth is incorrect
- The family address on the birth document is incorrect
Whether those errors can be corrected depends on the extent of the errors and whether there is sufficient supporting documentation of the correct information.
Our office has filed hundreds of petitions on behalf of our clients in New York State court.We can assist you by preparing the proper forms requesting corrections to help ensure that all information needed for the correction is properly presented to the Department of Health. If you decide to file a correction on your own and the Department of Health rejects your request, please reach out to us so we can walk you through the next steps.
Marriage Certificate Corrections
It is not unusual to find errors on marriage certificates many years, or even decades after the event. Errors can include:
- Using a nickname or other name instead of your own name
- If your signature does not match your name that has been typed onto the document
- Your date of birth, age, or place of birth are incorrect
- Your parents’ names are misspelled or a nickname was used in place of the actual name
- Your parent’s place of birth is incorrect
- Your mother’s maiden name was not recorded or misspelled
If you find that there are errors on your New York State marriage certificate, it is possible to administratively correct the errors by filing the proper applications with the Department of Health. We can assist by preparing the proper forms and including supporting evidence of the correct information. If you decide to file the correction on your own, and the administrative agency rejects your request, please contact so we can review the rejection letter and advise you on how to move forward on obtaining the corrections.
Death Certificate Corrections
Common errors include:
- The decedent’s name is misspelled
- The nickname of the deceased person was recorded instead of their actual name
- The decedent’s date of birth, age, place or country of birth are incorrect
- The deceased person’s home or residential address is incorrect
- The deceased person’s spouse’s name is misspelled or a nickname was used
- The deceased person’s father’s name was misspelled or a nickname was recorded instead
- The deceased person’s mother’s maiden name was misspelled or a nickname was recorded instead
- The deceased person’s social security number was incorrectly recorded
- The name of the informant is misspelled or wrong
You can make your own request for a correction to the funeral home. However, if it has been over a year since the death certificate was issued, the correction request must be submitted to the proper agency. You can prepare the correction form and submit it on your own, or we can prepare the forms on your behalf and ensure that proper and sufficient supporting documentation is included in the request. If you file the correction on your own and the agency rejects it, please reach out to us so we can advise on how to overcome the rejection.
Many people have issues with their New York Birth, Marriage, or Death Certificates. Please contact our office to schedule an appointment to review your matter.
Send Us a Message
Caterina Ranieri and her great team helped us with obtaining records required for Italian Dual Citizenship from the State of NY that could only be obtained with a court order. What seems like a simple request was more complicated than it appears on the surface. Her legal advice and guidance through the process were extremely helpful in getting the outcome we needed. Her team was always great with responding to questions along the process. We feel that we were very fortunate to have found Caterina and highly recommend her services.
