Notification of a birth Receipt Supplementary data delivery
If you have had a child, you must inform the relevant registry office and submit the required documents.
The registry office in whose jurisdiction the child was born is responsible.
If your child was born in a hospital or a birthing centre, the birth will be reported to the registry office by these institutions. In the case of a home birth, you will receive a birth certificate, which you must hand in personally at your local registry office.
In addition to the birth notification, you must submit further information and documents required for the certification of the birth to the responsible registry office if these cannot be taken from registers to which the registry office has access.
The registry office keeps a birth register in which the following entries are made:
- The child's first names and maiden name
- Place, day, hour and minute of birth
- The sex of the child
- The first names and surnames of the parents, their gender.
Choice of the child's first name:
As a custodian, you are free to choose the child's first name. Selected first names must not be contrary to the best interests of the child. Designations which are not first names by their nature may not be chosen. Multiple first names can be combined into one first name. Such a compound should contain no more than one hyphen.
Choice of the child's maiden name:
If you have a common married name, the child will get it as a birth name.
If, as parents, you do not have a married name and you have joint custody, you can make a declaration to the registry office to determine the name used by the father or mother at the time of the declaration as the child's birth name. A declaration made after the birth has been certified must be publicly certified. If you have determined a birth name for your child, this also applies to other children.
The custodians can determine to the registry office that a child should receive the surname
- under the law of a State of which one of the parents is a national,
- according to German law, if one of the parents has his or her habitual residence in Germany
- in accordance with the law of the State of which a person giving the name is a national.
Process flow
In order for the birth of your child to be certified, the responsible registry office needs the necessary information and documents from you.
- Bring all the original documents you need with you when you visit the relevant registry office.
Who should I contact?
to the registry office in whose district the child was born.
What are the fees?
There are no costs.
What deadlines do I have to pay attention to?
The birth of the child must be reported to the relevant registry office within one week. If a child is stillborn, the notification must be displayed no later than the third working day following the birth.
Parents with joint custody who do not have a married name must notify the child's maiden name to the competent registry office within one month of the child's birth. If no notification has been made within this period, this will be forwarded to the family court.
Processing duration
It may take a few days to process.
Legal basis
§ 35 Ordinance on the Implementation of the Civil Status Act (PStV)
§ 1626 et seq. German Civil Code (BGB)
What else should I know?
The registry office that certifies the birth must communicate this:
- the registry office, which keeps the birth records for the child's parents,
- the registry office I in Berlin, if the child was born abroad,
- the registration office,
- the family court, if
- the child is born after the death of his father
- it is a foundling or a minor whose marital status cannot be determined, or
- it is a child from a confidential birth in accordance with Section 25 (1) of the Pregnancy Conflict Act,
- the Youth Welfare Office, if the parents of the child are not married to each other,
- the family court, if parents with joint custody who do not have a married name have not determined the child's maiden name within one month of the child's birth,
- the Federal Office for Family Affairs and Civil Society Tasks, if the child was born confidentially in accordance with Section 25 (1) of the Pregnancy Conflict Act,
- the parental allowance office, if the registry office becomes aware that an application for parental allowance has been made and if the applicant has consented to the transfer of data
The processing of personal data by a public body is permitted if it is necessary for the performance of the task within the competence of the controller or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller.
Technically approved by
Lower Saxony Ministry of the Interior and Sport
