Amending / Correcting / Changing Documents (My Experience)

[jschotz]

I just emailed them. At the time, they were about 5 months out, but I have seen other posts putting them into July 2010. So I would e-mail as soon as possible. They replied within the week for me.

[carmeloorlando]

To jschotz:

Thank you so much for the templates you provided. I too have to make amendments to marriage and death certificates for my grandparents. I couldn't believe it when they told me I had to petition to make the amendments. I just got off the phone...

I see that you have listed 4 documents:

Notice to Defend
Petition for Correction of Certificate of Marriage
Notice of Hearing
Proposed Order

Did you submit all these documents at once? I will be mailing them. I was only told I needed to mail in a petition. There was no mention of the other documents.

One last question: Do you think I should petition separately for each document? Or could I petition to change my grandfather's marriage and death certificate in the same petition?

I can't tell you how timely finding this post was!!!! It was a true blessing to find it.

Thanks again.

[jschotz]

I sent you a PM that covers much of what you asked, but I will post here too just to make sure everyone can know what is going on.

They asked only for the petition of us as well, but the court will have to type up a notice of hearing. So just to keep things moving, we provided that for the judge to sign immediately.

The Proposed Order is going to be your Order in the end. Since having a proposed order give the judge something to review, he can make any appropriate changes at the hearing to that document and give it to you to type up the final order. So it gives the court an idea of what you are asking and if it is proper.

The Notice to Defend was not submitted initially. However, we were ordered to serve notice on all interested parties, so we did use that in the end. I would hold off on sending that unless asked.

All the documents were submitted at once.

You would have to petition the Court of Common Pleas for the change in the death certificate. The Register of Wills won't accept that petition. You can, however, file your petition to amend the death certificate with the Prothonotary in Luzerne County, then you at least are in the same location.

Hope this helps and feel free to post more questions.

[sforza]

This is amazing research. And quite timely for me personally. My situation is a little different than yours: I may have to sue to get a delayed birth certificate for my GF recorded in a PA county court. Your template filings will help immensely.

And because the only doc I have for my GF's birth - his baptismal cert - has my GGF's name spelled wrong, I will likely have to go back and amend - assuming I'm successful in getting it recorded.

Based on your experience, (not asking for legal advice) do you think I could petition for both at once? Regardless, I'll probably give it a shot.

[jschotz]

I was prepared to do a delayed birth certificate for my GGM, but she wasn't in the Italian line, so we abandoned that process. I do have the court documents still and might be useful for you.

I know the churches we went to for our family research would not change the names on the baptismal certificates. However, I was able to explain away the misspelling to the judge.

I am not a lawyer, but I feel if you have evidence of him using his properly spelled name for the rest of his life, then it could be easy to explain away the baptismal certificate as a one time mistake.

I also feel you should take these on one at a time. Again, not a lawyer and just saying...Because you might just be able to prove to the Judge even though his name is "X" at birth, his Marriage Certificate, Naturalization Certificate, Death Certificate, etc., is correct (if you have such evidence). Therefore, he should be named this on the delayed birth certificate. Then, if it is not favorable, you can try to repetition for a correction to the certificate.

PM me if you have any further questions or if you would like those documents.