Correcting and supplementing an entry in the register of civil status documents in Latvia is regulated by Law On Registration of Civil Status Documents and Cabinet of Ministers 03.09.2019. regulation No.761 “Regulations on Registers of Civil Status Documents” Chapter IX.
The General Registry office shall correct mistakes in an entry in the register of civil status documents and enter the missing or new information according to a submission of the interested person, if the civil status document has been registered with the General Registry institution, if there are sufficient grounds for correcting or supplementation of the entry and if there is no dispute between the interested persons. If the General Registry office does not have sufficient grounds for correcting or supplementing an entry in the register of civil status documents or if there is a dispute between the interested persons, or the entry in the register of civil status documents was made in a foreign state, the entry in the register of civil status documents shall be corrected or supplemented on the basis of a court judgment.
Supplementations to an entry in the register of civil status document
An entry in the register shall be renewed based on:
- a court judgement;
- a statement regarding dissolution of marriage issued by a sworn notary;
- a submission of a person and an opinion of a General Registry office;
- a submission of a person without an opinion of a General Registry office;
- an administrative act;
- Cabinet decision.
Based on a court judgement, an entry in the register shall be supplemented, if:
- paternity of the child has been determined;
- the fact of paternity has been established;
- the court has satisfied the claim by which the paternity assumption has been contested (it has been established that the child has not been born of his or her mother's husband) or recognized paternity has been declared annulled;
- maternity has been determined or contested;
- an entry in the register regarding the parents of a child or one parent of the child has been annulled;
- adoption has been confirmed or cancelled;
- marriage has been dissolved or declared annulled.
Based on a submission by a person and an opinion of a General Registry office, an entry in the register shall be supplemented, if:
- the parents of a child whose fact of birth has been registered as a foundling have become known;
- a fictitious entry regarding the father has been deleted (if birth of the child was registered in accordance with the procedures laid down in Section 58 of the USSR Marriage and Family Code, by completing the information regarding the father with the surname and ethnicity of the mother, and the given name of the father of the child and patronymic according to the instructions of the mother);
- for a child under 15 years of age a religious name as the second name of the child is entered;
- for a child under 15 years of age who is given two names, but is called by only one name, the name which is not used is deleted;
- a child under the age of 15 changes his/her name (names) to any name (names) - once, if the name (names) of the child is/ are difficult to pronounce, or it/ they is/are not good-sounding;
- for a child from the age of 15 and a person of legal age to whom in the entry of the birth registry and the original copy of the birth certificate two names have been entered, one name which is not used is deleted if in other personal documents only one name has been entered;
- the surname of a child is changed to the surname of the father or the mother, after entering into marriage of the parents, dissolving marriage of the parents, entering into marriage of the father or mother;
- surnames of the parents of a child are different, and based on an agreement between the parents or on a court decision, separate custody has been established for one parent, and the surname of the child is changed to the surname of the parent who exercises separate custody rights;
- surnames of the parents of a child are different, and one of the parents has been deprived of custody of the child, and the surname of the child is changed to the surname of the parent who exercises custody rights;
- information regarding one parent has been deleted, and the surname of the child is changed to the surname of the parent, who exercises custody rights;
- the person has undergone complete or partial change of sex, and the entry regarding the sex of the person is changed in accordance with the sex indicated in a medical certificate issued by a medical treatment institution or a medical practitioner or another document certifying the change of sex. The form of the name (s) and surname shall be reproduced in accordance with the sex;
- the nationality record of a child is changed if the information regarding one of the parents has been deleted from the birth register of the child or the information regarding one of the parents has been supplemented. Changing the nationality record requires the consent of the child if he or she has reached the age of twelve;
- the adoptee's place of birth and date of birth are changed according to the original entry in the birth register indicated before the adoption was approved (if the adoption was approved before 31 August 1993 on the basis of Article 112 of the LSSR Marriage and Family Code and place and date of birth);
- the nationality record of a child is changed to the paternal or maternal nationality record after the change of the nationality record of mother or father. Changing the nationality record requires the consent of the child if he or she has reached the age of twelve.
Based on a submission of a person without an opinion of a General Registry office, an entry in the register shall be supplemented if:
- fictitious entry regarding the father has been deleted (if birth of the child was registered in accordance with the procedures laid down in Section 58 of the USSR Marriage and Family Code, by completing the information regarding the father with the surname and ethnicity of the mother, and the given name of the father of the child and patronymic according to the instructions of the mother), and a submission for acknowledgement of paternity has been submitted at the same time;
- paternity of the child has been recognized;
- upon entering into mutual marriage of the parents, the parents and the child acquire a common surname;
- the name (names) and surname, that has (have) been entered in the register in dialect or a foreign language, shall be reproduced in accordance with the norms of the literary Latvian language regarding orthography of person's names;
- a person in reproducing a person's name which has been entered in dialect or a foreign language, also wishes to retain the historical form of his/ her surname or the original form in another language.
Based on an administrative act, an entry in the register shall be supplemented if:
- it is allowed to change the given name (names) or surname (given name (names) and surname) of a child;
- it is allowed to change the entry regarding ethnicity;
- it is allowed to change the name (names) or surname (name (names) and surname) of a person who has undergone complete or partial change of sex. The entry regarding the sex of the person shall be changed in accordance with the sex indicated in a medical certificate issued by a medical treatment institution or a medical practitioner or another document certifying the change of sex. The name (names) or surname (name (names) and surname) shall be entered in accordance with the decision regarding permission to change the name (names) or surname (name (names) and surname).
Corrections to an entry in the register of civil status document
A correction shall be made in any entry in the register, if:
- a clerical or spelling error, distortion or omission of the information or separate words have been made, incorrect or inaccurate information has been recorded;
- alignment of person's names (prevention of variants of forms of person's name) shall be made.
A General Registry office shall correct an entry in the register, based on:
- a submission of an interested person and an opinion of a General Registry office;
- an opinion of a General Registry office without a submission of an interested person, if the General Registry office has established that upon including information in the unified register of civil status documents, it has made a misspelling or orthography error;
- court decision.
Submission of an application for supplementation or correction to an entry in the register of civil status document
An application for making an addition or correction to an entry in the register, together with the necessary documents, shall be submitted to the registry office in Latvia or to the nearest diplomatic and consular mission of the Republic of Latvia abroad, which will forward it to the Ministry of Justice. In its turn, the Ministry of Justice will forward the application with the attached documents to the registry office in Latvia, where the relevant entry in the civil status register is kept.
The state fee for updating (correcting or supplementing) an entry in the civil status register is 7 euros.