Help - Correcting Birth Certificate in PA

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Re: Help - Correcting Birth Certificate in PA

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Re: Help - Correcting Birth Certificate in PA

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Just found out, due to being deceased I have to file a court order to get his name corrected, looks like I'm in the same boat.

If anyone has suggestions on how to do this from 3K+ miles away, let me know as I live in CA.
KellyCalabria
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Re: Help - Correcting Birth Certificate in PA

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Dear Scott and Anyone else who has had success in this matter!

I am trying to get Vital Records in PA to create a delayed birth certificate for my grandfather born in 1909 in Westmoreland County. I understand I need a lawyer to draft this petition, but I have called/emailed 10+ lawyers and no one will help me.

Does anyone have a name of someone in Western PA who might be willing to help? Many thanks, Kelly
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Re: Help - Correcting Birth Certificate in PA

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KellyCalabria wrote: 15 Jan 2021, 19:45 Dear Scott and Anyone else who has had success in this matter!

I am trying to get Vital Records in PA to create a delayed birth certificate for my grandfather born in 1909 in Westmoreland County. I understand I need a lawyer to draft this petition, but I have called/emailed 10+ lawyers and no one will help me.

Does anyone have a name of someone in Western PA who might be willing to help? Many thanks, Kelly
Hi,

sent you a PM with some info.
Terry Wilson
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Re: Help - Correcting Birth Certificate in PA

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Good day I am looking for the same information. I am attempting to register a delayed birth and need a court order. So I am looking for a blank petition that I can fill out to have a judge make this order.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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Re: Help - Correcting Birth Certificate in PA

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afecad wrote: 04 Oct 2020, 04:25 I'm going to be doing this as well (Grandfather's first name spelled incorrectly), but according to the back of the birth certificate all I need to do is to submit a notarized correction with supporting documents. Did not know you have to have a lawyer involved?
I noticed this, too, when I got a copy of my father's BC from PA that has his first name and his father's age wrong. I'm planning on doing the notarized correction form with the supporting docs I have.
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Re: Help - Correcting Birth Certificate in PA

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If the ancestor is deceased, PA Vital Records won't do any updates or changes without a court order. The notarized correction form won't work.

I spoke on the phone with a clerk at PA Vital Records who backed this up.

I did not attempt to do this pro se, nor would I recommend it.
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Re: Help - Correcting Birth Certificate in PA

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Hi Everyone,

I have a similar issue regarding a birth certificate of my deceased grandmother (the mother on her birth certificate indicates 'Maria Oliva' and it needs to be corrected to indicate her full birth name of Tindara Sidoti Olivo). I tried to submit a petition in the local courts but it was thrown out for lack of jurisdiction and lack of evidence. I can't find any lawyer who will take up the case. The place of birth is Philadelphia, PA.

If anyone can provide recommendations or a lawyer who would assist further, I would be most appreciative. Thank you all.
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Re: Help - Correcting Birth Certificate in PA

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treston11 wrote: 14 Apr 2021, 22:06 Hi Everyone,

I have a similar issue regarding a birth certificate of my deceased grandmother (the mother on her birth certificate indicates 'Maria Oliva' and it needs to be corrected to indicate her full birth name of Tindara Sidoti Olivo). I tried to submit a petition in the local courts but it was thrown out for lack of jurisdiction and lack of evidence. I can't find any lawyer who will take up the case. The place of birth is Philadelphia, PA.

If anyone can provide recommendations or a lawyer who would assist further, I would be most appreciative. Thank you all.
Sent you a PM with the details
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Re: Help - Correcting Birth Certificate in PA

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Just a heads up to anyone who is attempting to correct the Pennsylvania birth certificate of a deceased relative:

Despite what the representatives will tell you over the phone, it seems that PA Vital Records is requiring the applicant to submit Apostilled Italian vital records + Certified/Notarized Translations in addition to the court order. This is not what was required in the past, so perhaps this a YMMV situation (meaning it all depends on the clerk who is reviewing the case).

I don't believe this is justified as the point of the relief provided by the court order is that the petitioner needs the birth certificate to be corrected in said manner in order to apply for Italian dual citizenship. Therefore, the court order should be the only documentation required by PA Vital Records.
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Re: Help - Correcting Birth Certificate in PA

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qualdom wrote: 22 Apr 2021, 15:18 Just a heads up to anyone who is attempting to correct the Pennsylvania birth certificate of a deceased relative:

Despite what the representatives will tell you over the phone, it seems that PA Vital Records is requiring the applicant to submit Apostilled Italian vital records + Certified/Notarized Translations in addition to the court order. This is not what was required in the past, so perhaps this a YMMV situation (meaning it all depends on the clerk who is reviewing the case).

I don't believe this is justified as the point of the relief provided by the court order is that the petitioner needs the birth certificate to be corrected in said manner in order to apply for Italian dual citizenship. Therefore, the court order should be the only documentation required by PA Vital Records.
I have not heard anything from the Lawyer I used stating this was the case. I am still waiting for the document to arrive, so anything is possible? I just sent an email to see if there are any updates.
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Re: Help - Correcting Birth Certificate in PA

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I received an update from the Lawyer. From their experience in handling cases like mine, name/spelling correction only not birth dates (those can be tricky). No additional documentation beyond what was originally supplied will be required in addition to the court order.

Only issues on my Grandfather's PA Birth Certificate, the spelling of his first name was incorrect and that my GGM's first name listed was a shortened version of her full birth name.

Supposedly PA Vital Records has massive delays and any attempt to call them on the phone involves extremely long wait times.
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Re: Help - Correcting Birth Certificate in PA

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If you call PA Vital Records around 7:15AM EST, you would be connected to a representative within 5 minutes. The only issue is that many of the representatives answering the phone are not so knowledgeable, and often have to promise to "get back to you".

Actually the wait time for the correction of a birth record in PA has been greatly reduced. You can go on the official website and see that the processing time has been changed from 24 weeks to 4 weeks. My own birth record was corrected within a month.

https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/certif ... Times.aspx
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Re: Help - Correcting Birth Certificate in PA

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Correcting your own birth record is not the same as correcting the birth certificate of someone who is deceased. The lawyer I used has a lot of experience in handling cases like this and working with PA Vital Records. I also ordered upwards of 10 to 12 sets of birth and death certs from PA Vital Records, they showed up in a few weeks after ordering, doesn't mean they correct documents at the same rate, even with a court order.
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Re: Help - Correcting Birth Certificate in PA

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afecad wrote: 25 Apr 2021, 17:00 Correcting your own birth record is not the same as correcting the birth certificate of someone who is deceased. The lawyer I used has a lot of experience in handling cases like this and working with PA Vital Records. I also ordered upwards of 10 to 12 sets of birth and death certs from PA Vital Records, they showed up in a few weeks after ordering, doesn't mean they correct documents at the same rate, even with a court order.
Well, I mailed the application and the court order for the correction of my deceased relative's birth certificate at the end of March and they contacted me several days ago saying that it could not be processed. That seems to lend a lot of credence to the timeline I mentioned.

In regards to the attorney you mentioned, I was misinformed by that office on several crucial aspects of this process. Fortunately, I contacted the motions/petitions department in Philadelphia County and was provided with the proper information. So, as with anything in life, YMMV. I made the correct decision not to retain the aforementioned attorney.
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