Birth and Death Certificate Amendments
Please help us process your application as quickly as possible. Check to make sure your application is complete before you submit it. Missing information will result in processing delays.
All legal changes to a record (new adoptions, paternities, amendments and delayed registrations) can take up to 4 months to complete. Prompt responses to inquiries will help us complete your request more quickly.
An Oklahoma birth (or death) certificate may require an amendment if the initial information was:
- recorded in error by the health provider (or funeral director)
- provided in error by the parent (or informant)
- was missing because it was not provided at the time of registration or
- has since legally changed, e.g. name
In accordance with state law, amended records are marked “amended”. The date of the amendment, as well as a summary description of the evidence, is also indicated on the record.
All requests for amendment are subject to review of the applicant’s legal eligibility to make the request, any previous amendments to the record, any previous court or administrative action, and verification of acceptable supporting documentation. Specific instructions will be issued on a case-by-case basis.
Amending an Oklahoma Birth Record
At the time of birth, as well as upon receipt of the first issuance of your child’s birth certificate, it is important to perform a careful review of all the birth facts to ensure that the information recorded on the record is accurate. It is crucial that any spellings of names be verified and consistent with the names indicated on their government issued identification documents.
If the birth record contains a recording error, an amendment application can be submitted to correct the error if the child is under one year of age. Amendment requests should be submitted by mail. Please visit the Vital Records Forms page for the birth application form.
Please note that once the child reaches one year of age, amendment requests can only be completed for the following actions: legal name change of the child, adoption, and paternity.
Replacing/Sealing Oklahoma Birth Records
The only time an Oklahoma birth record will be sealed and replaced without being marked as “amended” is when the legal parents are changed, e.g. adoption or paternity. By law, changes to parentage are confidential; the original record is sealed and the final record is not marked as amended.
Contact Information
Mailing Address:
Oklahoma State Department of Health
Office of Vital Records
P.O. Box 248964
Oklahoma City, OK 73124-8964
Phone: (405) 426-8880
Email: AskVR@health.ok.gov
This is what people are saying about our will call service
"Everything worked smoothly and was easy to understand!"
