Vital Registration
Corrections and Amendments

Since Birth, Death and Marriage certificates are legal documents, the State of West Virginia has very strict rules concerning making any changes to them.  The rules vary depending on how long ago the birth, death, or marriage occurred, and what is being changed.

 There are two types of changes to certificates.  A correction is the process of changing mistaken information on the birth certificate, like misspelled names.  Amendments are changes to the information itself.  Examples are adding fathers, changing the legal last name, and so on.

Birth Certificates

• Correcting or Amending a Certificate of Birth
  
  • Correcting a Birth Certificate (Example:  correcting the spelling of a first or middle name.)
  • Changing a Birth Certificate (Example:  legal name change, or an adoption. )
  • Establishing Paternity (Adding or removing a father from a birth certificate)
• Filing a Delayed Certificate of Birth A Delayed Certificate of Birth may be placed on file if a person did not have a birth certificate filed for him or her within a year of his or her birth.  The delayed certificate of birth requires specific evidence for the facts of birth to be provided to Vital Registration.
• Birth Certificates for Children adopted abroad.
  Children who are born in other countries but adopted by West Virginian families can have a birth certificate placed on file for them at Vital Registration.  See our international adoption page for more information.

Death Certificates

• Correcting or Amending of Death
  
  • Changing/Correcting the Medical Section of a Death Certificate
  • All other Corrections and Amendments

Marriage Certificates

• Correcting or Amending a Certificate of Marriage
  
  Vital Registration cannot correct or amend a marriage certificate.
  Only the county in which the marriage license was issued can make any alterations to the marriage certificate.  Any alterations made by the county will be forwarded to Vital Registration, and the alterations will be made to our version of the document.
  

  Please visit our County Clerk List to find contact information for all 55 counties.