Amending an adult’s birth certificate to reflect biological father’s name.
A joyous story for Linda.
Linda’s situation is not unusual. Linda was born in 1945 to her mother, who was unmarried. At the time the social implications of being unmarried meant that on Linda’s birth certificate the name of her father had been left blank. Linda went on to be adopted as a baby and was told by her adoptive parents that her birth mother had been a nurse and her father had been an American pilot who had been shot down and killed during World War II. Therefore, Linda had lived most of her life believing that her biological father had died many years before.
In 1991, when Linda was 45 years old, she finally met her birth mother (a US resident) for the first time but sadly she did not give Linda any further information about her biological father, and she later died in 2003.
Linda didn’t give up and she was keen to learn the identity of her biological father. Linda’s son Colin hired an Expert Genealogist and eventually managed to identify Linda’s biological father as an American man. Linda was shocked to discover that her biological father had not been shot down and killed during World War II, there had been a plane crash however her biological father had survived and after World War II he had returned to the US, married and had 2 further children.
Linda and Colin went on to instruct a Forensic Genealogist which led to her identifying that she had a half brother and sister who are both US residents. Linda subsequently met her half brother and sister and now they are very close. DNA tests confirmed that they were half siblings.
Linda approached Greene & Greene in January 2020 as she was keen to have her birth certificate changed to display her father’s name. Linda felt it was important to have her biological father named on her birth certificate to provide closure, not only for herself but also for her children and grandchildren to have information about their own heritage.
Unfortunately, the Covid Pandemic did not help matters because further DNA testing was required by her half siblings in the US but eventually all of the evidence was put together and a hearing took place at Chelmsford Family Court in March 2023.
The matter was heard by a Circuit Judge of the Family Court. Rather unusually in a Final Hearing, the hearing itself lasted for just 10 minutes!
The Judge was very happy to make the Declaration of Parentage as sought by Linda and granted the Order. To make the day even more momentous for Linda, the Judge invited Linda, Colin and Linda’s legal representatives to go up to the Judge’s chair and have a photograph taken.
Emma Alfieri, Legal Director at Greene & Greene said, ‘It was such a nice case to deal with as there was no animosity between parents, it was simply a matter of Linda, Colin and their family wanting her birth certificate to be changed and the court accepted the evidence put forward by Linda’.
