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CHANGE IN STATE LAW
(THIS NOTICE APPLIES TO ALL PERSONS/AGENCIES WHO REQUEST CERTIFIED COPIES OF BIRTH OR DEATH CERTIFICATES.)
Legislation that went into effect July 1, 2003, requires this office to issue 2 different types of certified copies to requesters. In an attempt to make identity theft more difficult, SB 247 requires that persons requesting certified copies of birth and/or death certificates sign a statement, under penalty of perjury, that they are authorized to receive a regular certified copy.
If you claim one of the relationships listed below, then you are considered "authorized" to receive an "unrestricted" certified copy. If you cannot claim such a relationship, you will receive a certified copy with a stamp on the face of the document that states "Informational: not a valid document to establish identity."
Health and Safety Code 103526(c) defines an "authorized" person as one who is:
- The person named on the record (The "Certificate Holder").
- A parent or legal guardian of the Certificate Holder.
- A person entitled to receive the record as the result of a court order.
- An attorney or a licensed adoption agency seeking the birth record in order to comply with the requirements of Section 3140 or 7603 of the Family Code.
- A member of a law enforcement agency or a representative of another governmental agency, as provided by law, who is conducting official business.
- A child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse or domestic partner of the Certificate Holder.
- An attorney representing the Certificate Holder or the Certificate Holder's estate, or any person or agency empowered by statute or appointed by a court to act on behalf of the Certificate Holder or the Certificate Holder's estate.
- A funeral director or an agent of a funeral director who is ordering certified copies of a death certificate on behalf of an individual specified in Paragraphs (1) to (5), inclusive, of Subdivision (a) of Health and Safety Code Section 7100.
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