A Birth Certificate Amendment must be applied for to correct errors after the registrant's first birthday. An amendment can correct misspelled names, incorrect dates of birth, error in gender mark, as well as time of birth or parents' addresses.
The State Office of Vital Records requires very specific evidence to amend a Birth Certificate. If satisfactory documents cannot be acquired by the registrant, the request will be denied by the State, and a court order will be required to amend the Birth Certificate. The cost to file a Petition to Amend a Certificate of Birth is $85.50. (Additional fees/processes may be required by other offices to procure documentation. Please contact issuing agencies for information.)
If a Paternity Acknowledgment has been completed for the registrant, any other amendments will require a court order.
Once the application is submitted to the State Office of Vital Records, processing time for Birth Certificate Amendments is approximately 4-6 weeks.
In order to Amend a Birth Certificate, you must have at least 1 of the following documents. All documents must be certified or notarized and they should all have the same spelling of your name and the same date of birth. For females, all of the documents must include your maiden name. All of the documents must be at least 10 years old and 1 of the documents should include your father's full name and your mother's full maiden name. The following are suggested examples of the types of documents needed and should not be construed as a complete list:
Most amendments only require one piece of evidentiary documentation provided it meets the guidelines set forth by the State Office of Vital Records.
First, you must complete a Georgia Department of Vital Records application and provide all documentary evidence to submit with the application. We will submit the application on your behalf for a cost of $25.00.
If we submit the application for you, we retain the original documents you provide to us until your case is complete, then we will return the original documents to you. If you choose to submit the application to Vital Records yourself, you must provide the original documents to Georgia Vital Records with your application. The original documents will not be returned to you.
Once you provide all documents to us, we will send the application to the Georgia Department of Vital Records. We have to wait on them to provide either an approval or denial. The average wait time to hear back from Vital Records on this step is about 4-6 weeks.
If your application is denied, you may then file a Petition to Amend Birth Certificate. The filing fee is $85.50. The Petition allows Judge Powell to determine whether to enter an Order to Amend Certificate of Birth. We will use the documents already provided if we submit the application on your behalf. If you submitted the application yourself, you will need to provide the documents again.
If Judge Powell orders that a Birth Certificate should be amended, the Final Order is sent to the Georgia Department of Vital Records for them to process. The average wait time for the Birth Certificate to be amended is 4-6 weeks after we send the Order.
We will notify you when your Birth Certificate is available. You will have to pay an additional $25.00 for a certified copy of your Birth Certificate.
We accept cash, money orders, local Henry County checks (must be over number 500, no starter checks), MasterCard and Visa debit/credit cards (card processing fee will apply).
In order to amend your child's current birth certificate, the child must be under 1 year old. You must submit the signed and notarized Affidavit for Amendment (see forms) along with a copy of your photo ID and your current address and telephone number to the State office of Vital records at the address below:
State Vital Records Office 16080 Phoenix Boulevard, Suite 100 Atlanta, Georgia 30349 (404) 679-4702
Hours of Operation
2019 Court Closings
Contact Us
99 Sims Street, McDonough, GA 30253
Main Phone: 770 288 7600
TTY: 770 288 6818
Probate Fax: 770 288 7616
Vital Records Fax: 770 288 7562
Employee Intranet | Email Webmaster