questions & answers

Question: When my daughter who is not 4 was born. Her father was not present. We are now married. I never filed for a BC while at the hospital cause I was still deciding a name. Well I have her name now. She has my last name. But I never filed for her BC. My mistake. But being as I never filed for it. It was just my name on the hospital paper work. Me and her father are together and we got married. I went to file for her BC with his name on there of coarse and the sent the paper work back to me saying the information is not correct or the same as the certificate. How so? When I do not have her BC yet?

Answer: Most likely the hospital filed the birth certificate as they are required (ARS 36-333. Birth certificate registration

A. Within seven days after a child's birth in this state, a person shall submit to a local registrar, a deputy local registrar or the state registrar, a birth certificate for registration according to rules adopted pursuant to this chapter. The birth certificate shall be submitted physically or electronically through the state designated electronic registration system. A local registrar, a deputy local registrar or the state registrar may accept a certificate submitted electronically without the signatures required by rule.

B. If a birth occurs at a hospital, the chief administrative officer of the hospital or that person's designee shall:

1. Obtain the information for a birth certificate, including signatures and social security numbers required by rule.

2. Fill out the birth certificate.

3. Submit the birth certificate for registration to a local registrar, a deputy local registrar or the state registrar.

4. Maintain a copy of the evidentiary documents used to fill out the birth certificate for ten years after the date of submission.

C. If a birth does not occur at a hospital one of the following persons shall obtain the information, evidentiary documents, social security numbers and signatures required by rule for a birth certificate, fill

out the birth certificate and submit the birth certificate for registration to a local registrar, a deputy local registrar or the state registrar:

1. A physician, nurse or midwife who is present at the birth and who is willing and able to do so during or immediately after the birth.

2. If a physician, nurse or midwife is not present at the birth or is not willing or able to do so, the child's mother or father or a family member of legal age who is present, willing and able to do so during or immediately after the birth.

3. If the child's father or other family member of legal age is not present or is not willing or able and the child's mother is not willing or able to supply the required information, any otherperson who is present during or immediately after the child's birth and who can supply the required information.

D. If a birth occurs in a moving conveyance, the birth is considered to have occurred in the place where the child is initially removed from

the conveyance. If the child is initially removed from the conveyance

at a hospital, the person named in subsection B shall submit the birth certificate to the state registrar or the local registrar or deputy local registrar of the registration district where the child is first removed. If the child is initially removed from the conveyance at any location other than at a hospital, the person identified in subsection C shall submit the birth certificate to the state registrar or to the local registrar or

deputy local registrar of the registration district where the child is first removed.

E. A local registrar, a deputy local registrar or the state registrar shall register a birth certificate if the birth certificate is accurate and complete and submitted according to this chapter and rules adopted pursuant to this chapter.)

You can go to:  http://www.azdhs.gov/vital-records/manuals/documents/forms/certificate-of-live-birth-instruction-guide.pdf for more information and how to obtain your child's birth certificate.