Parents who tied the knot after having children have been advised of a little-known law they should follow.
The law in England and Wales states that parents who get married or form a civil partnership after they have children together will need to re-register their child’s birth, even if the details of both birth parents are already on the certificate. This is to make a new record of the child’s birth, and relates to outdated inheritance rules.
Parents who have just got married will need to fill out the Government’s LA1 form , which will enable a new record to be created at the register office for the district where the child was born - usually the same office which issued the original birth certificate. This new birth record will replace the original one, showing that the child is a ‘child of the marriage’ - but this rule has confused many parents, the Liverpool Echo reports .
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Many parents have shared the Government’s form in various Facebook groups, with some questioning how important it is to re-register their baby’s birth. Some said they were unaware that the law existed, while others claimed that they had been told by other parents that it was unnecessary.
A solicitor has explained that while the law exists as part of a 1970s rule which no longer applies, it is still the law today to re-register your child’s birth. However, they added that parents are unlikely to be fined if they fail to do so.
Katharine Marshall, associate solicitor at WHN Solicitors, told the Manchester Evening News : “When people who already have children together get married, under the Legitimacy Act 1976 parents must re-register the birth of their children, regardless of whether the natural father was included on the child’s birth certificate at the time of original registration. You need to do this through a form LA1.
“The re-registration is not to grant the father parental responsibility - he’d already have this as an unmarried father, provided he was included on the original birth certificate - but for the child to be recognised as a ‘child of the marriage’,” she added. “The Legitimacy Act 1976 stems from days when the legitimacy of a child would impact inheritance, but this no longer applies, provided there’s proof they’re a child of the parent - yet the Legitimacy Act 1976 remains.”
While it is possible to receive a very small fine if parents don’t fill out the form, the solicitor added that she had never known of one being handed out. Katharine said: “Failure to re-register may incur a nominal £2 fine, but I’m yet to come across any parent who has been charged. I’m sure there’s a huge number of families who have no idea this requirement even exists.”
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