Isle of Anglesey County Council

Legally the birth must be registered within 42 days of the child being born.

If your child was born at an address in the Isle of Anglesey, then it must be registered by the Anglesey register Office.

You can go to any register office in England or Wales to provide the necessary details.

Details will be sent to us and we will register the birth and send you the birth certificate. If your child was born outside the county, then you can visit this office and make a declaration of the particulars which will then be sent to the appropriate district.

You will not be issued with any documents by this office if you choose this option. If you want any more certificates other than the statutory free short birth certificate, there will be a fee to pay.

If the parents were married to each other at the time of the birth, either the mother or the father can register the baby.

However, if the parents were not married to each other, the father’s details can usually only be entered in the register if the mother and the father attend the Register Office together to register.

If you are not married and you want the father’s details to be on the birth registration and he is unable to attend for any reason, please contact the Register Office for further advice.

Unmarried couples

From 1 December 2003 there was a change of law, which made it easier for unmarried fathers to get equal parental responsibility. For this both parents need to register the birth of your baby together.

Parental responsibility for your child gives you important legal rights as well as responsibilities. Without it, you do not have any right to be involved in decisions such as where they live, their education, religion or medical treatment. With parental responsibility, you are treated in law as the child’s parent and you take equal responsibility in bringing them up.

Parentline Plus has a free helpline where you can talk through the options and ask for advice. You can call them on 0808 800 2222 or Textphone 0800 783 6783.

Baby

• The date and place of the baby’s birth. If the birth is one of twins, triplets etc the Registrar will also need to know the time of each baby’s birth
• whether it is a boy or girl
• the forenames and surname that it is intended the baby will be brought up with

Father (Where these details are to be entered in the Register)

• His forenames and surname
• his date and place of birth
• his occupation at the time of the baby’s birth or, if he was not working at the time, his previous occupation

Mother

• Her forenames and surname, her maiden name will also be required if she has been married
• her date and place of birth
• her occupation (optional), if she has been employed at any time before the birth

The Registrar will write down the particulars and you will be asked to check that it is correct. The information will then be written in to a Register and you will again be asked to read carefully what has been recorded before you sign to say that everything is correct. It is important that this legal record is checked before it is signed, because it is difficult to correct at a later date.

If you are unsure about anything please ask the Registrar who will try to help you.

General

If the parents were married to each other at the time of the birth the Registrar will ask for the date of the marriage

If the mother has previously had any children by her present or any former husband the Registrar will need to know how many children she has had.

Please remember one of the parents must register the birth personally; they cannot ask a friend or relative to come in instead. 

The child will normally be given the surname of the mother or father (even if the parents are not married to each other and the father does not attend with the mother).

Once the surname has been decided it can only be changed if:

• the parent’s apply for the birth to be re-registered because they are not married to each other and the father’s particulars were not entered in the Register
• the parent’s marry each other after the original registration - in this case the birth should be re-registered even if the child was given the father’s surname at the original registration

For both types of re-registration the Registrar will be pleased to advise you.

An accredited list for court-directed paternity testing can be found on the Justice website.

Please see the Justice website