replacement birth certificate

[Tacori E-ring]

My mom can only find a copy and I need the official one. Has anyone had to replace theirs? How did you do it? How long did it take?

 

[Caribou]

My mom did a few years back. I think she just had to go to the county she was born in and get it replaced.

ETA: I'm not sure how long it took to get it but I don't think it took any longer than a week.

 

[Kismet]

If you''re in the US, go down to the town hall of the town where you were born and request an official copy. If you''re no longer in the area then call the town clerk''s office. A lot of towns have those kinds of requests online now, so check for your town online too. If you make a request via phone/mail/online it''s usually fairly quick, within a week or so.

 

[Scintillating]

Don't you have to contact the city where you were born? I dunno.

I googled it and came up with these two websites: Birth Certificates USA
National Birth Certificate.com

The first website's professional affiliate organization's make me a little more comfortable.
These websites make me a nervous- if someone robbed your home they could easily get the necessary info to obtain a birth certificate through these sites. Shady, very shady.

Scintillating...

 

[AndyRosse]

Like everyone said, your birth town will have it in their records. They can give you a certified copy, usually for a nominal fee.

 

[AmberWaves]

When I had to get my ID from the state, I needed my OFFICIAL birth cert., they wouldn't let me use the one from the hosptital. I had to go to the Hall of Records (California), and I had to order mine online, from the State. It took two weeks, and I had to get it FedExed. Do you know which one you need? State, or hospital? They are different.

ETA: When I said, "had to go to the hall of records" I meant I had to go to the offical site, and do it from there. Sorry!

 

[jcrow]

i think i went to a website and ordered it. you had to answer specific questions so that they know it''s you requseting one. once they approve it, it comes in rather quickly.

 

[teebee]

I had to do this several years ago... was going to Mexico in just 2 days and realized I couldn''t find my birth certificate.

So, yes, you can call the county clerk''s office in the county where you were born. It is probably about a week, or even a couple of days if you''re in a hurry.

I have a story about this same thing... sorry...

The way it worked for me was that I had to send them a copy of my driver''s license - but they wouldn''t accept faxed copy, I would have to have the copy FedEx''d to them, then they would issue a certified copy and FedEx it back to me. That would have been fine... except that at the time, I lived in Tulsa, OK. It was a Tuesday, and on Wednesday night I was driving to Dallas and my flight was to leave out of the Dallas airport at 6:00am Thursday morning - and the birth certificate would have arrived in Tulsa on Thursday morning by 10:30am. So that wouldn''t work and I explained this to the county clerk''s office (in west Texas) and asked if they had any suggestions or if we could do this any other way.... nope, no ideas... and then they were shocked that I said that I''d just have to drive down there that night (tuesday), get the birth certificate the next day (wednesday) and then drive to Dallas to make my thursday flight. Um, hello? What else am I supposed to do - I paid $1000 for this trip, I need a birth certificate to go, and you tell me that this is the only way to get it in time, so yes, I''m driving down there!!

In the meantime, my mom calls a friend of hers who is a travel agent... the friend makes a call, then calls my mom right back... She says that all I need to do is call the Texas Department of Health''s Bureau of Vital Statistics in Austin, have them fax me a form, fill it out and fax it back with a copy of my driver''s license. I did so and in less than 24 hours I had a certified copy of my birth certificate.

To this day, I cannot believe that no one in the county clerk''s office told me I could do this - I mean, I was on the phone with this lady for a half hour trying to figure out how to get a copy of my birth certificate in time to take this trip - we went over it and over it - I was in tears asking her if there was ANY other way to do this and get the certificate BEFORE Thursday morning. She knew and was seriously taken aback that I was going to drive down there to get it - yet she never suggested or hinted that I might be able to get it from the State of Texas... or that there might be an alternative method... ARGH!!!!!

So, my point is, aside from bitching about incompetance, ignorance, and general government beauracracy... was to say that if you''re in a big hurry to do this and the county clerks office can''t help you quickly enough, try your state''s vital statistics office!!!

 

[AmberWaves]

THAT''S where I got mine from! I remember now! Thanks TeeBee. I remember thinking, "Hm. I''m a vital statistic."

 

[teebee]

Date: 4/5/2006 5:42:53 PM
Author: AmberWaves
THAT''S where I got mine from! I remember now! Thanks TeeBee. I remember thinking, ''Hm. I''m a vital statistic.''

Haha - I thought the same thing - especially since it says at the top "Certification of Vital Record" - so, I''m not really a birth, just a record?!?!

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Thanks so much. Sorry it took me so long to reply. I was out of town for my first bridal shower!

I was born in San Francisco and now live in Charlotte so going to person is just not possible. I am hoping I can do it online like jcrow. I will have to look up their offical website. This is for our marriage license and she said the one with the notary (which ever that is) not a copy.