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Ohio Laws and Rules
Chapter 3705: VITAL STATISTICS
As used in this chapter:
(A) "Live birth" means the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of human conception that after such expulsion or extraction breathes or shows any other evidence of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, whether or not the umbilical cord has been cut or the placenta is attached.
(1) "Fetal death" means death prior to the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of human conception, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy, which after such expulsion or extraction does not breathe or show any other evidence of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles.
(2) "Stillborn" means that an infant of at least twenty weeks of gestation suffered a fetal death.
(C) "Dead body" means a human body or part of a human body from the condition of which it reasonably may be concluded that death recently occurred.
(D) "Physician" means a person licensed pursuant to Chapter 4731. of the Revised Code to practice medicine or surgery or osteopathic medicine and surgery.
(E) "Attending physician" means the physician in charge of the patient's care for the illness or condition that resulted in death.
(F) "Institution" means any establishment, public or private, that provides medical, surgical, or diagnostic care or treatment, or domiciliary care, to two or more unrelated individuals, or to persons committed by law.
(G) "Funeral director" has the meaning given in section 4717.01 of the Revised Code.
(H) "State registrar" means the head of the office of vital statistics in the department of health.
(I) "Medical certification" means completion of the medical certification portion of the certificate of death or fetal death as to the cause of death or fetal death.
(J) "Final disposition" means the interment, cremation, removal from the state, donation, or other authorized disposition of a dead body or a fetal death.
(K) "Interment" means the final disposition of the remains of a dead body by burial or entombment.
(L) "Cremation" means the reduction to ashes of a dead body.
(M) "Donation" means gift of a dead body to a research institution or medical school.
(N) "System of vital statistics" means the registration, collection, preservation, amendment, and certification of vital records, the collection of other reports required by this chapter, and activities related thereto.
(O) "Vital records" means certificates or reports of birth, death, fetal death, marriage, divorce, dissolution of marriage, annulment, and data related thereto and other documents maintained as required by statute.
(P) "File" means the presentation of vital records for registration by the office of vital statistics.
(Q) "Registration" means the acceptance by the office of vital statistics and the incorporation of vital records into its official records.
(R) "Birth record" means a birth certificate that has been registered with the office of vital statistics; or, if registered prior to March 16, 1989, with the division of vital statistics; or, if registered prior to the establishment of the division of vital statistics, with the department of health or a local registrar.
(S) "Certification of birth" means a document issued by the director of health or state registrar or a local registrar under division (B) of section 3705.23 of the Revised Code.
(T) "Certified nurse-midwife" has the same meaning as in section 4723.01 of the Revised Code.
Amended by 130th General Assembly File No. 68, HB 95, §1, eff. 6/3/2014.
Effective Date: 09-26-2003; 2008 SB175 09-12-2008
A statewide system of registration of births, deaths, fetal deaths, and other vital statistics is hereby established, which shall consist of the office of vital statistics in the department of health and primary registration districts. The office of vital statistics shall be maintained at the capital of the state and shall be provided with sufficient staff, suitable offices, and other resources for the proper administration of the system of vital statistics and for the preservation of its official records. The director of health shall have charge of the system of vital statistics, enforce sections 3705.01 to 3705.29 of the Revised Code, and prepare and issue instructions necessary to secure the uniform observance of such sections. The director shall adopt rules as necessary to insure that this state shall have a complete and accurate registration of vital statistics. No system of registration of births, deaths, fetal deaths, or other vital statistics shall be maintained in any political subdivision in conflict with such sections.
Effective Date: 03-16-1989.
(A) The director of health shall designate the state registrar, who shall head the office of vital statistics and do all of the following:
(1) Administer and enforce this chapter, the rules issued under this chapter, and the instructions of the director for the efficient administration of the system of vital statistics;
(2) Direct and supervise the system of vital statistics and be custodian of the vital records;
(3) Direct, supervise, and control the activities of all persons engaged in activities governed by this chapter;
(4) Conduct training programs to promote uniformity of policy and procedures throughout the state in matters pertaining to the system of vital statistics.
(B) To preserve vital records, the state registrar may prepare a typewritten, photographic, electronic, or other reproduction of certificates or reports in the office of vital statistics. These reproductions, when certified by the director or state registrar, shall be accepted as the original records. The documents from which the reproductions have been made and verified may be disposed of as provided by rules that shall be adopted by the director.
Amended by 128th General AssemblyFile No.9, HB 1, §101.01, eff. 10/16/2009.
Effective Date: 03-16-1989.
The state shall be divided into registration districts. Each health district created by section 3709.01 of the Revised Code constitutes a primary registration district. The director of health may combine two or more primary registration districts, and may establish any state hospital, or other public institution, as a primary registration district.
Effective Date: 03-16-1989.
In each primary registration district, the board of health of the health district, on the recommendation of the health commissioner, shall appoint the local registrar of vital statistics. When a state hospital or other public institution has been made a primary registration district, the superintendent, or other person in charge thereof, shall be the local registrar of such district. When two or more primary registration districts have been combined into one primary registration district, the health commissioners of the health districts that constitute the combined primary registration district shall jointly appoint the local registrar who is to act as local registrar for the combined primary registration district. If the health commissioners fail to appoint the local registrar for the combined primary registration district, the director of health shall appoint the local registrar.
With the approval of the director of health, each local registrar shall appoint a deputy registrar who, in case of the absence, illness, or disability of the local registrar, shall act in the local registrar's stead. Acceptance of appointment as deputy registrar shall be in writing and shall be filed with the director. No funeral director or embalmer shall serve either as a local registrar or as a deputy registrar.
In a city registration district, all the records of vital statistics shall be kept in the office of the board of health of the city health district. In a general health district, all the records of vital statistics shall be kept at the office of the board of health of such district.
Effective Date: 02-12-2001.
Effective Date: 12-15-1988.
The local registrar of vital statistics shall supply blank forms of certificates and instructions to such persons as require them, and shall require each birth, fetal death, or death certificate, when presented for filing, to be made out in accordance with sections 3705.01 to 3705.29 of the Revised Code, the rules adopted by the director of health, and the registration instructions of the director. If a birth, fetal death, or death certificate is incomplete or unsatisfactory, the local registrar shall indicate the defects therein and withhold registering the certificate or issuing a burial permit until such certificate is corrected.
Effective Date: 03-16-1989.
(A) The local registrar of vital statistics shall number consecutively each fetal death and death certificate printed on paper that the local registrar receives from the electronic death registration system (EDRS) maintained by the department of health. The number assigned to each certificate shall be the one provided by EDRS. Such local registrar shall sign the local registrar's name in attest to the date of filing in the local office. The local registrar shall make a complete and accurate copy of each fetal death and death certificate printed on paper that is filed. Each paper copy shall be filed and preserved as the local record until the electronic information regarding the event has been completed and made available in EDRS and EDRS is capable of issuing a complete and accurate electronic copy of the certificate. The local record may be a photographic, electronic, or other reproduction. The local registrar shall transmit to the state office of vital statistics all original fetal death and death certificates received using the state transmittal schedule specified by the department of health. The local registrar shall immediately notify the health commissioner with jurisdiction in the registration district of the receipt of a death certificate attesting that death resulted from a communicable disease.
The office of vital statistics shall carefully examine the records and certificates received from local registrars of vital statistics and shall secure any further information that may be necessary to make each record and certificate complete and satisfactory. It shall arrange and preserve the records and certificates, or reproductions of them produced pursuant to section 3705.03 of the Revised Code, in a systematic manner and shall maintain a permanent index of all births, fetal deaths, and deaths registered, which shall show the name of the child or deceased person, place and date of birth or death, and number of the certificate .
(1) The office of vital statistics shall make available to the division of child support in the department of job and family services all social security numbers that accompany a birth certificate submitted for filing under division (H) of section 3705.09 or section 3705.10 of the Revised Code or that accompany a death certificate registered under section 3705.16 of the Revised Code.
(2) The office of vital statistics also shall make available to the division of child support in the department of job and family services any other information recorded in the birth record that may enable the division to use the social security numbers provided under division (B)(1) of this section to obtain the location of the father of the child whose birth certificate was accompanied by the social security number or to otherwise enforce a child support order pertaining to that child or any other child.
Amended by 132nd General Assembly File No. TBD, HB 49, §101.01, eff. 9/29/2017.
Amended by 130th General Assembly File No. 56, SB 23, §1, eff. 3/20/2015.
Effective Date: 07-01-2000.
On receipt of a death certificate of a person who was under eighteen years of age at death, the local registrar of vital statistics shall determine the county in which the person resided at the time of death. If the county of residence was other than the county in which the person died, the registrar, after registering the certificate and no later than four weeks after receiving it, shall make a copy of the certificate and send it to the local registrar of vital statistics of the county in which the person resided at the time of death.
Effective Date: 10-05-2000.
(A) The director of health, by rule, shall prescribe the form of records and certificates required by this chapter. Records and certificates shall include the items and information prescribed by the director, including the items recommended by the national center for health statistics of the United States department of health and human services, subject to approval of and modification by the director.
(B) All birth certificates shall include a statement setting forth the names of the child's parents .
(C) All death certificates shall include, in the medical certification portion of the certificate, a space to indicate, if the deceased individual is female and the manner of death is determined to be a suspicious or violent death, whether any of the following conditions apply to the individual:
(1) Not pregnant within the past year;
(2) Pregnant at the time of death;
(3) Not pregnant, but had been pregnant within forty-two days prior to the time of death;
(4) Not pregnant, but had been pregnant within forty-three days to one year prior to the time of death;
(5) Unknown whether pregnant within the past year.
(1) The director shall prescribe electronic methods and forms for obtaining registration of births, deaths, and other vital statistics in each registration district, and for preserving the records of the office of vital statistics, and no forms or blanks shall be used other than those prescribed by the director.
(2) All birth, fetal death, and death records and certificates shall be certified. Except as provided in division (G) of section 3705.09, section 3705.12, 3705.121, 3705.122, or 3705.124, division (D) of section 3705.15, or section 3705.16 of the Revised Code, a birth certificate requiring signature may be electronically certified by the person in charge of the institution or that person's designee. A death certificate may be electronically certified by the individual who attests to the facts of death.
(3) All vital records shall contain the date received for filing.
(4) Information and signatures required in certificates, records, or reports authorized by this chapter may be filed and registered by photographic, electronic, or other means as prescribed by the director.
Amended by 132nd General Assembly File No. TBD, HB 49, §101.01, eff. 9/29/2017.
Amended by 131st General Assembly File No. TBD, HB 64, §101.01, eff. 9/29/2015.
Amended by 130th General Assembly File No. 56, SB 23, §1, eff. 3/20/2015.
Effective Date: 07-15-1992; 04-15-2005
(A) A birth certificate for each live birth in this state shall be filed in the registration district in which it occurs within ten calendar days after such birth and shall be registered if it has been completed and filed in accordance with this section.
(B) When a birth occurs in or en route to an institution, the person in charge of the institution or a designated representative shall obtain the personal data, prepare the certificate, and complete and certify the facts of birth on the certificate within ten calendar days . The physician or certified nurse-midwife in attendance shall be listed on the birth record.
(C) When a birth occurs outside an institution, the birth certificate shall be prepared and filed by one of the following in the indicated order of priority:
(1) The physician or certified nurse-midwife in attendance at or immediately after the birth;
(2) Any other person in attendance at or immediately after the birth;
(3) The father;
(4) The mother;
(5) The person in charge of the premises where the birth occurred.
(D) Either of the parents of the child or other informant shall attest to the accuracy of the personal data entered on the birth certificate in time to permit the filing of the certificate within the ten days prescribed in this section.
(E) When a birth occurs in a moving conveyance within the United States and the child is first removed from the conveyance in this state, the birth shall be registered in this state and the place where it is first removed shall be considered the place of birth. When a birth occurs on a moving conveyance while in international waters or air space or in a foreign country or its air space and the child is first removed from the conveyance in this state, the birth shall be registered in this state but the record shall show the actual place of birth insofar as can be determined.
(1) If the mother of a child was married at the time of either conception or birth or between conception and birth, the child shall be registered in the surname designated by the mother, and the name of the husband shall be entered on the certificate as the father of the child. The presumption of paternity shall be in accordance with section 3111.03 of the Revised Code.
(2) If the mother was not married at the time of conception or birth or between conception and birth, the child shall be registered by the surname designated by the mother. The name of the father of such child shall also be inserted on the birth certificate if both the mother and the father sign an acknowledgement of paternity affidavit before the birth record has been sent to the local registrar. If the father is not named on the birth certificate pursuant to division (F)(1) or (2) of this section, no other information about the father shall be entered on the record.
(G) When a man is presumed, found, or declared to be the father of a child, according to section 2105.26, sections 3111.01 to 3111.18, former section 3111.21, or sections 3111.38 to 3111.54 of the Revised Code, or the father has acknowledged the child as his child in an acknowledgment of paternity, and the acknowledgment has become final pursuant to section 2151.232, 3111.25, or 3111.821 of the Revised Code, and documentary evidence of such fact is submitted to the department of health in such form as the director may require, a new birth record shall be issued by the department which shall have the same overall appearance as the record which would have been issued under this section if a marriage had occurred before the birth of such child. Where handwriting is required to effect such appearance, the department shall supply it. Upon the issuance of such new birth record, the original birth record shall cease to be a public record. Except as provided in division (C) of section 3705.091 of the Revised Code, the original record and any documentary evidence supporting the new registration of birth shall be placed in an envelope which shall be sealed by the department and shall not be open to inspection or copy unless so ordered by a court of competent jurisdiction.
(H) Every birth certificate filed under this section on or after July 1, 1990, shall be accompanied by all social security numbers that have been issued to the parents of the child, unless the division of child support in the department of job and family services, acting in accordance with regulations prescribed under the "Family Support Act of 1988," 102 Stat. 2353, 42 U.S.C.A. 405, as amended, finds good cause for not requiring that the numbers be furnished with the certificate. The parents' social security numbers shall not be recorded on the certificate. No social security number obtained under this division shall be used for any purpose other than child support enforcement.
Amended by 132nd General Assembly File No. TBD, HB 49, §101.01, eff. 9/29/2017.
Amended by 130th General Assembly File No. 68, HB 95, §1, eff. 6/3/2014.
Effective Date: 10-31-2001.
(A) If the natural mother and alleged father of a child sign an acknowledgment of paternity affidavit prepared pursuant to section 3111.31 of the Revised Code with respect to that child at the office of the local registrar, the local registrar shall provide a notary public to notarize the acknowledgment. The local registrar shall send a signed and notarized acknowledgment of paternity to the office of child support in the department of job and family services pursuant to section 3111.22 of the Revised Code. The local registrar shall send the acknowledgment no later than ten days after it has been signed and notarized. If the local registrar knows a man is presumed under section 3111.03 of the Revised Code to be the father of the child and that the presumed father is not the man who signed or is attempting to sign an acknowledgment with respect to the child, the local registrar shall not notarize or send the acknowledgment pursuant to this section.
(B) The local registrar of vital statistics shall provide an acknowledgment of paternity affidavit described in division (A) of this section to any person that requests it.
(C) The department of health shall store all acknowledgments of paternity affidavits it receives pursuant to section 3111.24 of the Revised Code. The department of health shall send to the office any acknowledgment the department is storing that the office requests. The department of health shall adopt rules pursuant to Chapter 119. of the Revised Code to govern the method of storage of the acknowledgments and to implement this section.
(D) The department of health and the department of job and family services shall enter into an agreement regarding expenses incurred by the department of health in comparing acknowledgment of paternity affidavits to birth records and storage of acknowledgment of paternity affidavits.
Effective Date: 03-22-2001.
Any birth certificate submitted for filing eleven or more days after the birth occurred constitutes a delayed birth registration. A delayed birth certificate may be filed in accordance with rules which shall be adopted by the director of health. The rules shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following requirements for each delayed birth certificate filed on or after July 1, 1990:
(A) The certificate shall be accompanied by all social security numbers that have been issued to the parents of the child, unless the division of child support in the department of job and family services, acting in accordance with regulations prescribed under the "Family Support Act of 1988," 102 Stat. 2353, 42 U.S.C.A. 405, as amended, finds good cause for not requiring that the numbers be furnished with the certificate.
(B) The parents' social security numbers shall not be recorded on the certificate.
(C) No social security number obtained under this section shall be used for any purpose other than child support enforcement.
Amended by 132nd General Assembly File No. TBD, HB 49, §101.01, eff. 9/29/2017.
Effective Date: 07-01-2000.
Whoever finds a living infant of unknown parentage shall immediately report such finding to the local registrar of vital statistics of the registration district in which the child is found, on a prescribed form which shall state:
(A) Date of finding;
(B) Place of finding;
(C) Sex of child;
(D) Race of the child;
(E) Approximate age of the child;
(F) Name and address of the person or institution with whom the child has been placed for care. The place where the child was found shall be known as the place of birth, and the date of birth shall be determined by approximation.
The person, superintendent, or manager of the institution with whom a foundling child is placed for care shall give such child a name within ten days and shall promptly report the name given to the local registrar of the registration district in which the child was found. The foundling report shall constitute the birth certificate for such foundling child and sections 3705.01 to 3705.29 of the Revised Code, relating to birth certificates or records, shall apply in the same manner and with the same effect to such report. If a foundling child is later identified and an original birth record is found or obtained, the foundling report shall cease to be a public record. Such foundling report shall be placed in an envelope which shall be sealed by the department and shall not be open to inspection or copy unless so ordered by a court of competent jurisdiction. All copies of the foundling report in the possession of the local registrar or the probate court as well as any and all index references thereto shall be destroyed.
Effective Date: 03-16-1989.
Upon receipt of the items sent by a probate court pursuant to section 3107.19 of the Revised Code concerning the adoption of a child born in this state whose adoption was decreed on or after January 1, 1964, the department of health shall issue, unless otherwise requested by the adoptive parents, a new birth record using the child's adopted name and the names of and data concerning the adoptive parents. The new birth record shall have the same overall appearance as the record that would have been issued under section 3705.09 of the Revised Code if the adopted child had been born to the adoptive parents. Where handwriting is required to effect that appearance, the department shall supply the handwriting.
Upon the issuance of the new birth record, the original birth record shall cease to be a public record. The index references to the original birth record, including references that were not a public record under this section as it existed prior to the effective date of this amendment, are a public record under section 149.43 of the Revised Code. The department shall place the original birth record and the items sent by the probate court pursuant to section 3107.19 of the Revised Code in an adoption file and seal the file. The contents of the adoption file are not a public record and shall be available
only in accordance with section 3705.126 of the Revised Code. For the purposes of sections 149.43 and 1347.08 of the Revised Code, the contents of the adoption file include any contact preference form, biological parent's name redaction request form, or social and medical history accepted and maintained by the department.
The department of health shall promptly forward a copy of the new birth record to the local registrar of vital statistics of the district in which the birth occurred. The local registrar shall file a copy of the new birth record along with and in the same manner as the other copies of birth records in the possession of the local registrar. All copies of the original birth record and all other papers, documents, and index references pertaining to the original birth record in the possession of the local registrar or the probate court shall be destroyed, except that the probate court shall retain permanently in the file of the adoption proceedings information that is necessary to enable the court to identify both the child's original birth record and the child's new birth record.
Amended by 130th General Assembly File No. 56, SB 23, §1, eff. 3/20/2015.
Effective Date: 09-18-1996.
When the adoption of a child whose birth occurred in this state is decreed by a court in another state and when the department of health has received, from the court that decreed the adoption, an official communication containing information similar to that contained in the certificate of adoption for adoptions decreed in this state, section 3705.12 of the Revised Code shall apply to the child's case just as if the adoption had taken place in this state. The department shall place the original birth record and all papers and documents in its possession that pertain to the original birth record or to the adoption of the child in an adoption file and seal the file. The contents of the adoption file are not a public record and shall be made available only in accordance with section 3705.126 of the Revised Code. Index references to the original birth record, including references that were not a public record under section 3705.12 of the Revised Code as that section existed before September 18, 1996, are a public record under section 149.43 of the Revised Code.
Added by 130th General Assembly File No. 56, SB 23, §1, eff. 3/20/2015.
(A) The department of health shall issue a foreign birth record as follows:
(1) On receipt of the items sent by a probate court pursuant to section 3107.19 of the Revised Code concerning the adoption of a person born in a foreign country, unless the adoptive parents or adopted person over eighteen years of age requests that such record not be issued;
(2) On receipt of an order issued under section 3107.18 of the Revised Code.
(B) A foreign birth record shall be the same in all respects as a birth record issued under section 3705.12 of the Revised Code, except that it shall show the actual country of birth. After registration of the birth record in the new name of the adopted person, the department shall place the items sent by the probate court in an adoption file and seal the file. The contents of the adoption file are not a public record and shall be made available only in accordance with section 3705.126 of the Revised Code.
Added by 130th General Assembly File No. 56, SB 23, §1, eff. 3/20/2015.
No original birth record of any person whose birth occurred in this state and whose adoption was decreed before January 1, 1964, no birth record in the adopted name of any person whose birth occurred in this state and whose adoption was decreed before January 1, 1964, and no papers or documents that pertain to either such type of birth record or to the adoption of any such person shall be sealed on or after March 19, 1985. The department of health shall maintain in an adoption file all such records, papers, and documents that are in the possession of the department and were sealed pursuant to division (C) or (D) of section 3705.12 of the Revised Code as it existed before March 19, 1985, or that were mistakenly or otherwise sealed. The contents of the adoption file are not a public record and shall be made available only in accordance with section 3705.126 of the Revised Code.
Added by 130th General Assembly File No. 56, SB 23, §1, eff. 3/20/2015.
An adopted person whose birth occurred in this state, whose adoption was decreed before January 1, 1964, who did not have a new or reissued birth record in the person's adopted name prepared pursuant to division (C) or (D) of section 3705.12 of the Revised Code as those divisions existed before March 19, 1985, and whose adoption is in full force and effect, may apply to the department of health at any time for the preparation of a new birth record in the person's adopted name. On receipt of such an application, the department shall prepare a new birth record in the person's name, in accordance with, and in the form described in, section 3705.12 of the Revised Code. On preparation of the new birth record, the original birth record of the applicant or the birth record issued in the adopted name of the applicant before January 1, 1964, that is being replaced, whichever is applicable, shall cease to be a public record. The department shall maintain the birth record that ceased to be a public record and papers and documents that pertain to it or to the adoption of the applicant in an adoption file. The contents of the adoption file are not a public record and shall be made available only in accordance with section 3705.126 of the Revised Code.
The department promptly shall forward a copy of a new birth record in an applicant's adopted name that is prepared under this section to the local registrar of vital statistics of the district in which the applicant's birth occurred. The local registrar shall file the copy along with, and in the same manner as, the other copies of birth records in the registrar's possession. All copies of the applicant's original birth record or the birth record issued in the applicant's adopted name before January 1, 1964, that is being replaced, and all other papers, documents, and index references pertaining to it that are in the possession of the local registrar or a probate court shall be destroyed, except that the probate court shall retain permanently in the file of adoption proceedings information that is necessary to enable the court to identify both the applicant's original birth record or birth record issued in the applicant's adopted name before January 1, 1964, that is being replaced, and the new birth record in the applicant's adopted name that is prepared pursuant to this section.
Added by 130th General Assembly File No. 56, SB 23, §1, eff. 3/20/2015.
A new birth record or foreign birth record, and any certified or exact copy of the new birth record or foreign birth record, when properly authenticated by a duly authorized person, shall be prima facie evidence in all courts and places of the facts stated in the new birth record or foreign birth record.
Added by 130th General Assembly File No. 56, SB 23, §1, eff. 3/20/2015.
The department of health shall neither open an adoption file nor make its contents available except as follows:
(A) The department shall inspect the file to determine the court involved for the purpose of division (D) of section 3107.09 or section 3107.091 or 3107.171 of the Revised Code.
(B) The department shall make the file's contents available to an adopted person or lineal descendant of an adopted person in accordance with section 3107.38 of the Revised Code.
(C) The department shall open the file to transfer releases to the file in accordance with section 3107.381 of the Revised Code.
(D) The department shall open the file to file a contact preference form from a biological parent pursuant to section 3107.39 of the Revised Code and remove any previously filed contact preference form from the biological parent.
(E) [Effective 3/20/2014] The department shall open the file to file a biological parent's name redaction request form pursuant to division (C) of section 3107.391 of the Revised Code or to remove and destroy the form pursuant to division (D) of that section.
(F) The department shall open the file to file a denial of release form under division (A) of section 3107.46 of the Revised Code or an authorization of release form under division (B) of that section.
(G) The department shall make the file's contents available to an adopted person or adoptive parent in accordance with section 3107.47 of the Revised Code.
(H) The department shall open the file to file a request from an adopted person under division (A) of section 3107.48 of the Revised Code or to remove and destroy the request pursuant to division (B) of that section.
(I) The department shall inspect the file to assist a birth parent or birth sibling in finding the adopted person's name by adoption in accordance with section 3107.49 of the Revised Code.
(J) The court that decreed the adoption may order that the contents be made open for inspection or available for copying.
Added by 130th General Assembly File No. 56, SB 23, §1, eff. 3/20/2015.
When a legal change of name of a person whose birth occurred in this state has been granted by a court, the office of vital statistics shall receive and file a certified copy of the court order legally changing the name. The court order shall be cross-referenced with the original birth record and the office of vital statistics shall issue a certification of birth containing the new name. Such certification shall disclose information that a legal change of name has been granted by a court.
Provided, if the original birth record was filed prior to the establishment of the division of vital statistics, a certified copy of the court order legally changing the name shall be received and filed with the probate court of the county wherein the birth occurred, instead of with the office of vital statistics. The court order shall be cross-referenced with the original birth record and upon request the probate court shall issue a birth record containing the new name. Such record shall disclose information that a legal change of name has been granted by the court.
Effective Date: 03-16-1989.
Effective Date: 12-15-1988.
When a living child's birth is recorded without a given name, a supplemental report of such given name may be completed and presented within one year after the birth to the local registrar in the registration district where the birth occurred or to the office of vital statistics.
Effective Date: 03-16-1989.
Whoever claims to have been born in this state, and whose registration of birth is not recorded, or has been lost or destroyed, or has not been properly and accurately recorded, may file an application for registration of birth or correction of the birth record in the probate court of the county of the person's birth or residence or the county in which the person's mother resided at the time of the person's birth. If the person is a minor the application shall be signed by either parent or the person's guardian.
(A) An application to correct a birth record shall set forth all of the available facts required on a birth record and the reasons for making the application, and shall be verified by the applicant. Upon the filing of the application the court may fix a date for a hearing, which shall not be less than seven days after the filing date. The court may require one publication of notice of the hearing in a newspaper of general circulation in the county at least seven days prior to the date of the hearing. The application shall be supported by the affidavit of the physician or certified nurse-midwife in attendance. If an affidavit is not available, the application shall be supported by the affidavits of at least two persons having knowledge of the facts stated in the application, by documentary evidence, or by other evidence the court deems sufficient.
The probate judge, if satisfied that the facts are as stated, shall make an order correcting the birth record, except that in the case of an application to correct the date of birth, the judge shall make the order only if any date shown as the date the attending physician or certified nurse-midwife signed the birth record or the date the local registrar filed the record is consistent with the corrected date of birth. If supported by sufficient evidence, the judge may include in an order correcting the date of birth an order correcting the date the attending physician or certified nurse-midwife signed the birth record or the date the local registrar filed the record.
(B) An application of a person whose registration of birth is not recorded, or has been lost or destroyed, must comply with division (A) of this section. Upon the filing of the application the court may fix a date for a hearing, which shall be not less than seven days after the filing date. The court may require one publication of notice of the hearing in a newspaper of general circulation in the county at least seven days prior to the date of the hearing. The probate judge, or a special master commissioner, shall personally examine the applicant in open court and shall take sworn testimony on the application which shall include the testimony of at least two credible witnesses, or clear and convincing documentary evidence. The probate court may conduct any necessary investigation, and shall permit the applicant and all witnesses presented to be cross-examined by any interested person, or by the prosecuting attorney of the county. When a witness or the applicant is unable to appear in open court, the court may authorize the taking of the witness's or applicant's deposition. The court may cause a complete record to be taken of the hearing, shall file it with the other papers in the case, and may order the transcript of the testimony to be filed and made a matter of record in the court. Upon being satisfied that notice of the hearing on the application has been given by publication, if required, and that the claim of the applicant is true, the court shall make a finding upon all the facts required on a birth record, and shall order the registration of the birth of the applicant. The court shall forthwith transmit to the director of health a certified summary of its finding and order, on a form prescribed by the director, who shall file it in the records of the central division of vital statistics.
(C) The director may forward a copy of the summary for the registration of a birth in the director's office to the appropriate local registrar of vital statistics.
A certified copy of the birth record corrected or registered by court order as provided in this section shall have the same legal effect for all purposes as an original birth record.
The application, affidavits, findings, and orders of the court, together with a transcript of the testimony if ordered by the court, for the correction of a birth record or for the registration of a birth, shall be recorded in a book kept for that purpose and shall be properly indexed. The book shall become a part of the records of the probate court.
(1) Except as provided in division (D)(2) of this section, whenever a correction is ordered in a birth record under division (A) of this section, the court ordering the correction shall forthwith forward to the department of health a certified copy of the order containing such information as will enable the department to prepare a new birth record. Thereupon, the department shall record a new birth record using the correct information supplied by the court and the new birth record shall have the same overall appearance as the original record which would have been issued under this chapter. Where handwriting is required to effect that appearance, the department shall supply it. Upon the preparation and filing of the new birth record, the original birth record and index references shall cease to be a public record. The original record and all other information pertaining to it shall be placed in an envelope which shall be sealed by the department, and its contents shall not be open to inspection or copy unless so ordered by the probate court of the county that ordered the correction.
The department shall promptly forward a copy of the new birth record to the local registrar of vital statistics of the district in which the birth occurred and the local registrar shall file a copy of the new birth record along with and in the same manner as the other copies of birth records in the local registrar's possession. All copies of the original birth record, as well as any and all other papers, documents, and index references pertaining to it, in the possession of the local registrar shall be destroyed. The probate court shall retain permanently in the file of its proceedings such information as will enable the court to identify both the original birth record and the new birth record.
The new birth record, as well as any certified copies of it when properly authenticated by a duly authorized person, shall be prima-facie evidence in all courts and places of the facts therein stated.
(2) If the correction ordered in the birth record under division (A) of this section involves a change in the date of birth of the applicant and the department of health determines that the corrected date of birth is inconsistent with the date shown as the date the attending physician or certified nurse-midwife signed the birth record or the date the local registrar filed the record, the department shall request that the court reconsider the order and, if appropriate, make a new order in which the dates are consistent. If the court does not make a new order within a reasonable time, instead of issuing a new birth record, the department shall file and record the court's order in the same manner as other birth records and make a cross-reference on the original and on the corrected record.
(E) The probate court shall assess costs of registering a birth or correcting a birth record under this section against the person who makes application for the registration or correction.
Amended by 130th General Assembly File No. 68, HB 95, §1, eff. 6/3/2014.
Effective Date: 04-02-1996.
(A) For purposes of this section notwithstanding section 3705.01 of the Revised Code, "fetal death" does not include death of the product of human conception prior to twenty weeks of gestation.
(B) Each death or fetal death that occurs in this state shall be registered with the local registrar of vital statistics of the district in which the death or fetal death occurred, by the funeral director or other person in charge of the final disposition of the remains. The personal and statistical information in the death or fetal death certificate shall be obtained from the best qualified persons or sources available, by the funeral director or other person in charge of the final disposition of the remains. The statement of facts relating to the disposition of the body and information relative to the armed services referred to in section 3705.19 of the Revised Code shall be signed by the funeral director or other person in charge of the final disposition of the remains.
(C) The funeral director or other person in charge of the final disposition of the remains shall present the death or fetal death certificate to the attending physician of the decedent, the coroner, or the medical examiner, as appropriate for certification of the cause of death. If a death or fetal death occurs under any circumstances mentioned in section 313.12 of the Revised Code, the coroner in the county in which the death occurs, or a deputy coroner, medical examiner, or deputy medical examiner serving in an equivalent capacity, shall certify the cause of death unless that death was reported to the coroner, deputy coroner, medical examiner, or deputy medical examiner and that person, after a preliminary examination, declined to assert jurisdiction with respect to the death or fetal death. A physician other than the coroner in the county in which a death or fetal death occurs, or a deputy coroner, medical examiner, or deputy medical examiner serving in an equivalent capacity, may certify only those deaths that occur under natural circumstances.
The medical certificate of death shall be completed and signed by the physician who attended the decedent or by the coroner or medical examiner, as appropriate, within forty-eight hours after the death or fetal death. A coroner or medical examiner may satisfy the requirement of signing a medical certificate showing the cause of death or fetal death as pending either by stamping it with a stamp of the coroner's or medical examiner's signature or by signing it in the coroner's or medical examiner's own hand, but the coroner or medical examiner shall sign any other medical certificate of death or supplementary medical certification in the coroner's or medical examiner's own hand.
(D) Any death certificate registered pursuant to this section shall contain the social security number of the decedent, if available. A social security number obtained under this section is a public record under section 149.43 of the Revised Code.
Effective Date: 01-01-1998; 08-17-2006; 2008 SB175 09-12-2008 .
The body of a person whose death occurs in this state shall not be interred, deposited in a vault or tomb, cremated, or otherwise disposed of by a funeral director until a burial permit is issued by a local registrar or sub-registrar of vital statistics. No such permit shall be issued by a local registrar or sub-registrar until a satisfactory death, fetal death, or provisional death certificate is filed with the local registrar or sub-registrar. When the medical certification as to the cause of death cannot be provided by the attending physician or coroner prior to burial, for sufficient cause, as determined by rule of the director of health, the funeral director may file a provisional death certificate with the local registrar or sub-registrar for the purpose of securing a burial or burial-transit permit. When the funeral director files a provisional death certificate to secure a burial or burial-transit permit, the funeral director shall file a satisfactory and complete death certificate within five days after the date of death. The director of health, by rule, may provide additional time for filing a satisfactory death certificate. A burial permit authorizing cremation shall not be issued upon the filing of a provisional certificate of death.
When a funeral director or other person obtains a burial permit from a local registrar or sub-registrar, the registrar or sub-registrar shall charge a fee of three dollars for the issuance of the burial permit. Two dollars and fifty cents of each fee collected for a burial permit shall be paid into the state treasury to the credit of the division of real estate in the department of commerce to be used by the division in discharging its duties prescribed in Chapter 4767. of the Revised Code and the Ohio cemetery dispute resolution commission created by section 4767.05 of the Revised Code. A local registrar or sub-registrar shall transmit payments of that portion of the amount of each fee collected under this section to the treasurer of state on a quarterly basis or more frequently, if possible. The director of health, by rule, shall provide for the issuance of a burial permit without the payment of the fee required by this section if the total cost of the burial will be paid by an agency or instrumentality of the United States, the state or a state agency, or a political subdivision of the state.
The director of commerce may by rule adopted in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code reduce the total amount of the fee required by this section and that portion of the amount of the fee required to be paid to the credit of the division of real estate for the use of the division and the Ohio cemetery dispute resolution commission, if the director determines that the total amount of funds the fee is generating at the amount required by this section exceeds the amount of funds the division of real estate and the commission need to carry out their powers and duties prescribed in Chapter 4767. of the Revised Code.
No person in charge of any premises in which interments or cremations are made shall inter or cremate or otherwise dispose of a body, unless it is accompanied by a burial permit. Each person in charge of a cemetery, crematory, or other place of disposal shall indorse upon a burial permit the date of interment, cremation, or other disposal and shall retain such permits for a period of at least five years. The person in charge shall keep an accurate record of all interments, cremations, or other disposal of dead bodies, made in the premises under the person's charge, stating the name of the deceased person, place of death, date of burial, cremation, or other disposal, and name and address of the funeral director. Such record shall at all times be open to public inspection.
Effective Date: 09-22-2000.
When a death occurs outside the state and the body is transported into this state for burial or other disposition, the body must be accompanied by an authorization for final disposition issued in accordance with the laws and health regulations of the place where death occurred. The authorization that accompanied the body shall be accepted as authorization for burial, cremation, or other disposal in Ohio. The person in charge of place of burial shall endorse and forward the authorization for final disposition that accompanied the body to the local registrar of vital statistics of the registration district in which burial was made.
Effective Date: 03-16-1989.
Effective Date: 03-16-1989.
(A) If the deceased served in the armed forces of the United States, the death certificate shall include a statement of the branch of service in which he served, the date of entry into service, the date and type of discharge from such service, and information to show the name and location of the place where the deceased was buried or cremated, date of burial or cremation, and the location, lot, and grave number of the deceased's burial.
(B) Whenever the remains of a deceased person are transported into this state for burial or other disposition, the funeral director having responsibility for disposition of the remains shall ascertain from the best qualified persons or sources available whether or not the deceased was a member of the armed forces of the United States. If the director finds the deceased was a member, he shall also obtain from such persons or sources and shall transcribe on a form prescribed by the director of health, the deceased's branch of service, date of entry into service, date and type of separation or discharge from service, date of birth, state of birth, date of death, date of burial, the name and location of the cemetery, and the lot and grave number where the deceased is buried. The funeral director shall sign the completed form and submit it to the local registrar of vital statistics. If the director is unable to ascertain whether or not the deceased was a member of the armed forces of the United States or ascertains that the deceased was not a member, he shall enter such information on the form.
If no funeral director is responsible for the disposition of the remains of the deceased, the person in charge of the disposition, except a person who is customarily in charge only of the premises where burials or cremations take place, shall perform the duties required by this division.
(C) At intervals not to exceed three months, the department of health shall forward to the adjutant general a summary of information concerning deceased members and former members of the armed forces of the United States, including those who died outside this state, but whose remains were buried or received for other final disposition in this state. The summary shall state the name, date of birth, state of birth, date of death, date of entry into service, date and type of separation or discharge from service, branch of service, date of burial, place of burial, and location of grave. At the same time the department forwards this summary to the adjutant general, it shall forward to each county recorder that portion of the summary that relates to burials made, and grave locations situated, within the county. After the summary is sent to the adjutant general, the forms specified in division (B) of this section may be disposed of.
Effective Date: 03-16-1989.
(A) The fetal death of the product of human conception of at least twenty weeks of gestation shall be registered on a fetal death certificate.
On application of either parent, the fetal death of the product of human conception prior to twenty weeks of gestation shall be registered on a fetal death certificate, except that the fetal death certificate shall not list the cause of death.
The parent shall include with the application a copy of the statement required by division (B)(1) of section 3727.16 or division (B)(1) of section 4731.82 of the Revised Code. If the father submits the application, he shall also include with it a signed and notarized document from the mother attesting that she voluntarily provided the father with a copy of the statement.
A fetal death certificate for the product of human conception prior to twenty weeks gestation is not proof of a live birth for purposes of federal, state, and local taxes.
(B) The product of human conception of at least twenty weeks of gestation that suffers a fetal death occurring in Ohio shall not be interred, deposited in a vault or tomb, cremated, or otherwise disposed of by a funeral director or other person until a fetal death certificate or provisional death certificate has been filed with and a burial permit is issued by the local registrar of vital statistics of the registration district in which the fetal death occurs, or the body is found.
A burial permit for the product of human conception that suffers a fetal death prior to twenty weeks of gestation shall be issued by the local registrar of vital statistics of the registration district in which the fetal death occurs if either parent files a fetal death certificate with that registrar.
(1) The department of health and the local registrar shall keep a separate record and index record of fetal death certificates.
(2) The personal or statistical information on the fetal death certificate shall be obtained by the funeral director or other person in charge of interment or cremation from the best qualified persons or sources available.
(D) When a burial permit is issued under division (B) of this section for the product of human conception of at least twenty weeks of gestation that suffers a fetal death, the local registrar shall inform the parent or parents listed on the fetal death certificate or provisional death certificate of the option of applying for a certificate that is issued under division (B)(3) of section 3705.23 of the Revised Code.
Amended by 130th General Assembly File No. 68, HB 95, §1, eff. 6/3/2014.
Effective Date: 03-16-1989; 2008 SB175 09-12-2008
All marriages taking place within the state, all divorces, dissolutions, and annulments of marriages decreed by a court of this state, and all corrections of certificates of marriage shall be registered with the office of vital statistics of the department of health. On or before the tenth day of each month, the probate judge of each county shall forward to the department on a form prescribed and furnished by the director of health a certified abstract of each marriage record made by the probate judge during the preceding month.
The clerk of the court of common pleas, on or before the tenth day of each month, shall send to the department on a form to be prescribed and furnished by the director a certified abstract of all decrees of divorce, dissolution, and annulment of marriage and orders correcting certificates of marriage that the clerk recorded during the preceding month. The office of vital statistics shall record and index all records received under this section.
Effective Date: 05-15-1996.
Whenever it is alleged that the facts stated in any birth, fetal death, or death record filed in the department of health are not true, the director may require satisfactory evidence to be presented in the form of affidavits, amended records, or certificates to establish the alleged facts. When established, the original record or certificate shall be supplemented by the affidavit or the amended certificate or record information.
An affidavit in a form prescribed by the director shall be sworn to by a person having personal knowledge of the matter sought to be corrected. Medical certifications contained on fetal death or death records may be corrected only by the person whose name appears on the original record as attending physician or by the coroner of the county in which the death occurred.
The amended birth record shall be signed by the person who attended the birth and the informant or informants whose names appear on the original record. The amended death or fetal death record shall be signed by the physician or coroner, funeral director, and informant whose names appear on the original record.
An affidavit or amended record for the correction of the given name of a person shall have the signature of the person, if the person is age eighteen or older, or of both parents if the person is under eighteen, except that in the case of a child born out of wedlock, the mother's signature will suffice; in the case of the death or incapacity of either parent, the signature of the other parent will suffice; in the case of a child not in the custody of his parents, the signature of the guardian or agency having the custody of the child will suffice; and in the case of a child whose parents are deceased, the signature of another person who knows the child will suffice.
Once a correction or amendment of an item is made on a vital record, that item shall not be corrected or amended again except on the order of a court of this state or the request of a court of another state or jurisdiction.
The director may refuse to accept an affidavit or amended certificate or record that appears to be submitted for the purpose of falsifying the certificate or record.
A certified copy of a certificate or record issued by the department of health shall show the information as originally given and the corrected information, except that an electronically produced copy need indicate only that the certificate or record was corrected and the item that was corrected.
Effective Date: 03-16-1989.
(1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, the director of health, the state registrar, or a local registrar, on receipt of a signed application and the fee specified in section 3705.24 of the Revised Code, shall issue a certified copy of a vital record, or of a part of a vital record, in the director's or registrar's custody to any applicant, unless the vital record has ceased to be a public record pursuant to section 3705.09, 3705.11, 3705.12, 3705.121, 3705.122, 3705.123, 3705.124, or 3705.15 of the Revised Code. The certified copy shall show the date the vital record was registered by the local registrar.
(2) A certified copy of a vital record may be made by a mechanical, electronic, or other reproduction process. It shall be certified as a true copy by the director, state registrar, or local registrar who has custody of the record and shall include the date of issuance, the name of the issuing officer, the signature of the officer or an authorized facsimile of the signature, and the seal of the issuing office.
(3) A certified copy of a vital record or of any part of a vital record, issued in accordance with this section, shall be considered for all purposes the same as the original and shall be prima-facie evidence of the facts stated in it in all courts and places.
(a) Information contained in the "information for medical and health use only" section of a birth record shall not be included as part of a certified copy of the birth record unless the information specifically is requested by the individual to whose birth the record attests, either of the individual's parents or the individual's guardian, a lineal descendant, or an official of the federal or state government or of a political subdivision of the state charged by law with detecting or prosecuting crime.
(b) Except as provided in division (A)(4)(a) of this section, neither the office of vital statistics nor a local registrar shall disclose information contained in the "information for medical and health use only" section of a birth record unless a court, for good cause shown, orders disclosure of the information or the state registrar specifically authorizes release of the information for statistical or research purposes under conditions the state registrar, subject to the approval of the director of health, shall establish by rule.
(5) For the first five years after a decedent's death, a decedent's social security number shall not be included on a certified copy of the decedent's death certificate unless that information is specifically requested to be on the certified copy by one of the following who presents proof satisfactory to the director, state registrar, or local registrar of the person's identity:
(a) The decedent's spouse;
(b) A county veterans service officer employed under section 5901.07 of the Revised Code;
(c) An official specified in division (A). (B). or (C) of section 9.15 of the Revised Code who is authorized to cause the burial or cremation of a dead person as described in that section;
(d) An agent of an officer or official described in division (A)(5)(b) or (c) of this section, but only if the agent presents either of the following indicating the agent's status as the officer's or official's agent:
(i) Photographic identification, such as an employment badge;
(ii) A signed and dated letter on the officer's or official's letterhead.
(e) A lineal descendant of the decedent;
(f) An individual with a class A or B license to engage in the business of private investigation issued under section 4749.03 of the Revised Code;
(g) An official of the federal or state government or of a political subdivision of the state charged by law with detecting or prosecuting crime;
(h) An individual engaged in the work of. or connected with, or employed by. any media organization or media association for the purpose of gathering, procuring, compiling, editing, disseminating, or publishing news;
(i) The executor or administrator of the decedent's estate, or an attorney representing the executor or administrator;
(j) An agent, as defined in section 1337.22 of the Revised Code, of the decedent, when the decedent had been the principal under a power of attorney created pursuant to sections 1337.21 to 1337.64 of the Revised Code;
(k) The adult, or any adult in a group of adults, serving as the representative or successor representative under a written declaration the decedent executed pursuant to section 2108.70 of the Revised Code;
(l) A licensed funeral director, or an employee or agent of that individual, who requests a certified copy of the decedent's death certificate on behalf of a person described in division (A) (5) of this section other than a person described in division (A)(5)(g) of this section;
(m) Any person who is authorized by law to act on behalf of the decedent or the decedent's estate but is not listed in divisions (A)(5)(a) to (1) of this section.
(1) Unless the applicant specifically requests a certified copy, the director, the state registrar, or a local registrar, on receipt of a signed application for a birth record and the fee specified in section 3705.24 of the Revised Code, may issue a certification of birth, and the certification of birth shall contain at least the name, sex, date of birth, registration date, and place of birth of the person to whose birth the record attests and shall attest that the person's birth has been registered. A certification of birth shall be prima-facie evidence of the facts stated in it in all courts and places.
(2) The director or state registrar, on receipt of a signed application for an heirloom certification of birth and the fee specified in section 3705.24 of the Revised Code, may issue an heirloom certification of birth. The director shall prescribe by rule guidelines for the form of an heirloom certification of birth, and the guidelines shall require the heirloom certification of birth to contain at least the name, sex, date of birth, registration date, and place of birth of the person to whose birth the record attests and to attest that the person's birth has been registered. An heirloom certification of birth shall be prima-facie evidence of the facts stated in it in all courts and places.
(a) The director or state registrar, on receipt of an application signed by either parent, shall issue a certificate that recognizes the delivery of a stillborn infant. The director or state registrar shall not charge a fee for the certificate. The certificate is not proof of a live birth for purposes of federal, state, and local taxes.
The certificate shall contain the infant's name and sex, the date of delivery, and the place of delivery. The certificate shall not contain the word "stillborn" or "stillbirth" or any other words having the same or a similar meaning. The director may prescribe by rule any other standards regarding the form of the certificate.
(b) If, prior to June 3. 2014. a parent obtained a certificate that contains the word "stillborn" or "stillbirth" or any other words having the same or a similar meaning, the parent may submit to the director or state registrar a written request for issuance of a certificate that meets the conditions specified in division (B)(3)(a) of this section. On receipt of the request, the director or state registrar shall issue the certificate.
(C) On evidence that a birth certificate was registered through misrepresentation or fraud, the state registrar may withhold the issuance of a certified copy of the birth record or a certification of birth until a court makes a determination that no misrepresentation or fraud occurred.
Amended by 131st General Assembly File No. TBD, SB 61, §1, eff. 10/15/2015.
Amended by 130th General Assembly File No. 56, SB 23, §1, eff. 3/20/2015.
Amended by 130th General Assembly File No. 68, HB 95, §1, eff. 6/3/2014.
Effective Date: 09-26-2003.
A local registrar shall allow an individual to photograph or otherwise copy a birth or death record.
Added by 131st General Assembly File No. TBD, HB 64, §101.01, eff. 9/29/2015.
(1) The director of health shall, in accordance with section 111.15 of the Revised Code, adopt rules prescribing fees for the following items or services provided by the state office of vital statistics:
(a) Except as provided in division (A)(4) of this section:
(i) A certified copy of a vital record or a certification of birth;
(ii) A search by the office of vital statistics of its files and records pursuant to a request for information, regardless of whether a copy of a record is provided;
(iii) A copy of a record provided pursuant to a request.
(b) Replacement of a birth certificate following an adoption, legitimation, paternity determination or acknowledgement, or court order;
(c) Filing of a delayed registration of a vital record;
(d) Amendment of a vital record that is requested later than one year after the filing date of the vital record;
(e) Any other documents or services for which the director considers the charging of a fee appropriate.
(2) Fees prescribed under division (A)(1)(a) of this section shall not be less than twelve dollars.
(3) Fees prescribed under division (A)(1) of this section shall be collected in addition to any fees required by sections 3109.14 and 3705.242 of the Revised Code.
(4) Fees prescribed under division (A) of this section shall not apply to certifications issued under division (H) of this section or copies provided under section 3705.241 of the Revised Code.
(B) In addition to the fees prescribed under division (A) of this section or section 3709.09 of the Revised Code, the office of vital statistics, the board of health of a city or general health district, or a local registrar of vital statistics who is not a salaried employee of a city or general health district shall charge a five-dollar fee for each certified copy of a vital record and each certification of birth. This fee shall be deposited in the general operations fund created under section 3701.83 of the Revised Code and be used to support the operations, the modernization, and the automation of the vital records program in this state. A board of health or a local registrar shall forward all fees collected under this division to the department of health not later than thirty days after the end of each calendar quarter.
(C) Except as otherwise provided in division (H) of this section, and except as provided in section 3705.241 of the Revised Code, fees collected by the director of health under sections 3705.01 to 3705.29 of the Revised Code shall be paid into the state treasury to the credit of the general operations fund created by section 3701.83 of the Revised Code. Except as provided in division (B) or (I) of this section, money generated by the fees shall be used only for administration and enforcement of this chapter and the rules adopted under it. Amounts submitted to the department of health for copies of vital records or services in excess of the fees imposed by this section shall be dealt with as follows:
(1) An overpayment of two dollars or less shall be retained by the department and deposited in the state treasury to the credit of the general operations fund created by section 3701.83 of the Revised Code.
(2) An overpayment in excess of two dollars shall be returned to the person who made the overpayment.
(D) If a local registrar is a salaried employee of a city or a general health district, any fees the local registrar receives pursuant to section 3705.23 of the Revised Code shall be paid into the general fund of the city or the health fund of the general health district.
Each local registrar of vital statistics, or each health district where the local registrar is a salaried employee of the district, shall be entitled to a fee for each birth, fetal death, death, or military service certificate properly and completely made out and registered with the local registrar or district and correctly copied and forwarded to the office of vital statistics in accordance with the population of the primary registration district at the last federal census. The fee for each birth, fetal death, death, or military service certificate shall be:
(1) In primary registration districts of over two hundred fifty thousand, twenty cents;
(2) In primary registration districts of over one hundred twenty-five thousand and less than two hundred fifty thousand, sixty cents;
(3) In primary registration districts of over fifty thousand and less than one hundred twenty-five thousand, eighty cents;
(4) In primary registration districts of less than fifty thousand, one dollar.
(E) The director of health shall annually certify to the county treasurers of the several counties the number of birth, fetal death, death, and military service certificates registered from their respective counties with the names of the local registrars and the amounts due each registrar and health district at the rates fixed in this section. Such amounts shall be paid by the treasurer of the county in which the registration districts are located. No fees shall be charged or collected by registrars except as provided by this chapter and section 3109.14 of the Revised Code.
(F) A probate judge shall be paid a fee of fifteen cents for each certified abstract of marriage prepared and forwarded by the probate judge to the department of health pursuant to section 3705.21 of the Revised Code. The fee shall be in addition to the fee paid for a marriage license and shall be paid by the applicants for the license.
(G) The clerk of a court of common pleas shall be paid a fee of one dollar for each certificate of divorce, dissolution, and annulment of marriage prepared and forwarded by the clerk to the department pursuant to section 3705.21 of the Revised Code. The fee for the certified abstract of divorce, dissolution, or annulment of marriage shall be added to the court costs allowed in these cases.
(H) The fee for an heirloom certification of birth issued pursuant to division (B)(2) of section 3705.23 of the Revised Code shall be an amount prescribed by rule by the director of health plus any fee required by section 3109.14 of the Revised Code. In setting the amount of the fee, the director shall establish a surcharge in addition to an amount necessary to offset the expense of processing heirloom certifications of birth. The fee prescribed by the director of health pursuant to this division shall be deposited into the state treasury to the credit of the heirloom certification of birth fund which is hereby created. Money credited to the fund shall be used by the office of vital statistics to offset the expense of processing heirloom certifications of birth. However, the money collected for the surcharge, subject to the approval of the controlling board, shall be used for the purposes specified by the family and children first council pursuant to section 121.37 of the Revised Code.
(1) Four dollars of each fee collected by the board of health of a city or general health district for a certified copy of a vital record or a certification of birth shall be transferred to the office of vital statistics not later than thirty days after the end of each calendar quarter. The amount collected shall be used to support public health systems. Of each four dollars collected, one dollar shall be used by the director of health to pay subsidies to boards of health. The subsidies shall be distributed in accordance with the same formula established under section 3701.342 of the Revised Code for the distribution of state health district subsidy funds to boards of health and local health departments.
(2) Four dollars of each fee collected by a local registrar of vital statistics who is not a salaried employee of a city or general health district, for a certified copy of a vital record or certification of birth, shall be transferred to the office of vital statistics not later than thirty days after the end of each calendar quarter. The amount collected shall be used to support public health systems.
Amended by 129th General AssemblyFile No.127, HB 487, §101.01, eff. 9/10/2012.
Amended by 129th General AssemblyFile No.28, HB 153, §101.01, eff. 9/29/2011.
Amended by 128th General AssemblyFile No.9, HB 1, §101.01, eff. 10/16/2009.
Effective Date: 06-26-2003; 09-29-2005; 2007 HB119 09-29-2007.
Not later than ninety days after June 30, 1996, the director of health shall adopt rules in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code establishing the fee for providing a copy of the contents of an adoption file pursuant to sections 3107.38 and 3107.47 of the Revised Code.
The director shall deposit fees collected under this section in the adoption records fund, which is hereby created in the state treasury. The department shall use the money in the fund to perform its duties under sections 3107.38 and 3107.39 and sections 3107.45 to 3107.53 of the Revised Code.
Amended by 130th General Assembly File No. 56, SB 23, §1, eff. 3/20/2015.
Effective Date: 06-20-1996.
(1) The director of health, a person authorized by the director, a local commissioner of health, or a local registrar of vital statistics shall charge and collect a fee of one dollar and fifty cents for each certified copy of a birth record, each certification of birth, and each copy of a death record. The fee is in addition to the fee imposed by section 3705.24 or any other section of the Revised Code. A local commissioner of health or local registrar of vital statistics may retain an amount of each additional fee collected, not to exceed three per cent of the amount of the additional fee, to be used for costs directly related to the collection of the fee and the forwarding of the fee to the department of health.
The additional fees collected by the director of health or a person authorized by the director and the additional fees collected but not retained by a local commissioner of health or a local registrar of vital statistics shall be forwarded to the department of health not later than thirty days following the end of each quarter. Not later than two days after the fees are forwarded to the department each quarter, the department shall pay the collected fees to the treasurer of state in accordance with rules adopted by the treasurer of state under section 113.08 of the Revised Code.
(2) On the filing of a divorce decree under section 3105.10 or a decree of dissolution under section 3105.65 of the Revised Code, a court of common pleas shall charge and collect a fee of five dollars and fifty cents. The fee is in addition to any other court costs or fees. The county clerk of courts may retain an amount of each additional fee collected, not to exceed three per cent of the amount of the additional fee, to be used for costs directly related to the collection of the fee and the forwarding of the fee to the treasurer of state. The additional fees collected, but not retained, under division (A)(2) of this section shall be forwarded to the treasurer of state not later than twenty days following the end of each month.
(B) The treasurer of state shall deposit the fees paid or forwarded under this section in the state treasury to the credit of the family violence prevention fund, which is hereby created. A person or government entity that fails to pay or forward the fees in the manner described in this section, shall send to the department of public safety a penalty equal to ten per cent of the fees. The department of public safety shall forward all collected late fees to the treasurer of state for deposit into the family violence prevention fund in accordance with rules adopted by the treasurer of state under section 113.08 of the Revised Code.
The treasurer of state shall invest the moneys in the fund. All earnings resulting from investment of the fund shall be credited to the fund, except that actual administration costs incurred by the treasurer of state in administering the fund may be deducted from the earnings resulting from investments. The amount that may be deducted shall not exceed three per cent of the total amount of fees credited to the fund in each fiscal year. The balance of the investment earnings shall be credited to the fund.
(C) The director of public safety shall use money credited to the fund to provide grants to family violence shelters in Ohio and to operate the division of criminal justice services.
Amended by 130th General Assembly File No. 7, HB 51, §101.01, eff. 7/1/2013.
Amended by 129th General AssemblyFile No.127, HB 487, §101.01, eff. 9/10/2012.
Effective Date: 09-29-2005; 03-30-2006; 2007 HB67 07-03-2007.
A local registrar of vital statistics, deputy registrar, or sub-registrar who fails to discharge official duties shall, on a recommendation of the health commissioner, forthwith be removed from office by the board of health of the health district that constitutes the primary registration district or, in the case of a local registrar serving a combined primary registration district, by the joint action of the boards of health of the health districts that constitute the combined district.
Effective Date: 02-12-2001.
Effective Date: 03-16-1989.
Any person having knowledge of the facts shall furnish such information as he may possess regarding any birth, fetal death, or death upon demand of the state registrar.
Effective Date: 03-16-1989.
The director of health may match birth records and death records in accordance with written standards which he shall promulgate in order to protect the integrity of vital records and prevent the fraudulent use of birth records of deceased persons, to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the fact of death, and to post the facts of death to the appropriate birth record. Copies made of birth records marked "deceased" shall be similarly marked "deceased."
Effective Date: 03-16-1989.
This chapter applies to all birth, fetal death, or death certificates and records, and reports of marriage, divorce, dissolution of marriage, or annulment of marriage received by the department of health prior to the effective date of this section and in the custody of the state registrar or a local registrar, but nothing in this chapter affects the validity of any certificate, record, or report created or filed prior to the effective date of this section.
Effective Date: 03-16-1989.
(A) No person shall do any of the following:
(1) Purposely make any false statement in a certificate, record, or report required by this chapter or in an application or amendment of it, or purposely supply false information with the intent that that information be used in the preparation of any such report, record, or certificate, or amendment of it;
(2) Without lawful authority and with intent to deceive, counterfeit, alter, amend, or mutilate any certificate, record, or report required by this chapter or any certified copy of it;
(3) Purposely obtain, possess, use, sell, furnish, or attempt to obtain, possess, use, sell, or furnish to another for the purpose of deception any certificate, record, or report required by this chapter or any certified copy of it, or any certificate, record, or report that is counterfeit, altered, or amended or false in whole or part;
(4) Purposely obtain, possess, use, sell, furnish, or attempt to obtain, possess, use, sell, or furnish to another for the purpose of deception any certificate, record, or report required by this chapter, or any certified copy of it, that relates to the birth of another person, whether living or dead;
(5) Without lawful authority, possess any certificate, record, or report required by this chapter or any copy of such a certificate, record, or report, knowing it to have been stolen or otherwise unlawfully obtained.
(B) No person employed by the office of vital statistics or a local registrar shall purposely furnish or possess a birth record or certified copy of a birth record with intent that it be used for deception.
(C) No person shall do any of the following:
(1) Purposely refuse to provide information required by this chapter or rules adopted under it;
(2) Purposely transport out of this state or accept for interment or other disposition a dead body without a permit required by this chapter;
(3) Knowingly prepare, issue, sell, or give any record or certificate that is alleged to be an original vital record or a certified copy of a vital record if the person knows or has reason to know that it is not an original vital record or a certified copy of a vital record;
(4) Refuse to comply with the requirements of this chapter or violate any of the provisions of this chapter.
(D) No officer or employee of the department of health shall knowingly reveal or provide any information contained in an adoption file maintained by the department under section 3705.12, 3705.121, 3705.122, 3705.123, or 3705.124 of the Revised Code to any person, or knowingly reveal or provide the contents of an adoption file to any person, unless authorized to do so by section 3705.126 of the Revised Code.
(E) If a death, or a fetal death of at least twenty weeks of gestation, occurs under any circumstances mentioned in section 313.12 of the Revised Code, the coroner of the county in which the death or fetal death occurs, or a deputy coroner, medical examiner, or deputy medical examiner serving in an equivalent capacity, shall certify the cause of that death unless the death was reported to the coroner, deputy coroner, medical examiner, or deputy medical examiner and that person, after a preliminary examination, declined to assert jurisdiction with respect to the death or fetal death.
(F) No physician other than the coroner in the county in which a death, or a fetal death of at least twenty weeks of gestation, occurs, or a deputy coroner, medical examiner, or deputy medical examiner serving in an equivalent capacity, may certify any death or fetal death that occurs under any circumstances other than natural.
(G) If a death, or a fetal death of at least twenty weeks of gestation, occurs under any circumstances mentioned in section 313.12 of the Revised Code, no person shall knowingly present a death or fetal death certificate for the purpose of obtaining certification of the cause of death to any physician other than the coroner in the county in which the death or fetal death occurred, or to a deputy coroner, medical examiner, or deputy medical examiner serving in an equivalent capacity, unless that death or fetal death was reported to the coroner, deputy coroner, medical examiner, or deputy medical examiner and that person, after a preliminary examination, declined to assert jurisdiction with respect to the death or fetal death.
(H) No person, with intent to defraud or knowing that the person is facilitating a fraud, shall do either of the following:
(1) Certify a cause of death in violation of the prohibition of division (E) or (F) of this section;
(2) Obtain or attempt to obtain a certification of the cause of a death or fetal death in violation of the prohibition of division (G) of this section.
Amended by 130th General Assembly File No. 56, SB 23, §1, eff. 3/20/2015.
Effective Date: 09-18-1996; 08-17-2006; 2008 SB175 09-12-2008.
(A) As used in this section:
(1) "Freestanding birthing center" has the same meaning as in section 3702.141 of the Revised Code.
(2) "Hospital" means a hospital classified under section 3701.07 of the Revised Code as a general hospital or children's hospital.
(3) "Physician" means an individual authorized under Chapter 4731. of the Revised Code to practice medicine and surgery or osteopathic medicine and surgery.
(B) The director of health shall establish and, if funds for this purpose are available, implement a statewide birth defects information system for the collection of information concerning congenital anomalies, stillbirths, and abnormal conditions of newborns.
(C) If the system is implemented under division (B) of this section, all of the following apply:
(1) The director may require each physician, hospital, and freestanding birthing center to report to the system information concerning all patients under five years of age with a primary diagnosis of a congenital anomaly or abnormal condition. The director shall not require a hospital, freestanding birthing center, or physician to report to the system any information that is reported to the director or department of health under another provision of the Revised Code or Administrative Code.
(2) On request, each physician, hospital, and freestanding birthing center shall give the director or authorized employees of the department of health access to the medical records of any patient described in division (C)(1) of this section. The department shall pay the costs of copying any medical records pursuant to this division.
(3) The director may review vital statistics records and shall consider expanding the list of congenital anomalies and abnormal conditions of newborns reported on birth certificates pursuant to section 3705.08 of the Revised Code.
(D) A physician, hospital, or freestanding birthing center that provides information to the system under division (C) of this section shall not be subject to criminal or civil liability for providing the information.
Amended by 129th General AssemblyFile No.127, HB 487, §101.01, eff. 9/10/2012.
Effective Date: 10-05-2000.
If implemented under section 3705.30 of the Revised Code, the birth defects information system may be used for all of the following purposes:
(A) To identify and describe congenital anomalies, stillbirths, and abnormal conditions of newborns;
(B) To detect trends and epidemics in congenital anomalies, stillbirths, and abnormal conditions of newborns;
(C) To quantify morbidity and mortality of congenital anomalies and abnormal conditions of newborns;
(D) To stimulate epidemiological research regarding congenital anomalies, stillbirths, and abnormal conditions of newborns;
(E) To identify risk factors for congenital anomalies, stillbirths, and abnormal conditions of newborns;
(F) To facilitate intervention in and prevention of congenital anomalies, stillbirths, and abnormal conditions of newborns;
(G) To facilitate access to treatment for congenital anomalies and abnormal conditions of newborns;
(H) To inform and educate the public about congenital anomalies, stillbirths, and abnormal conditions of newborns.
Effective Date: 10-05-2000.
(A) Except as provided in this section, records received and information assembled by the birth defects information system pursuant to section 3705.30 of the Revised Code are confidential medical records.
(1) The director of health may use information assembled by the system to notify parents, guardians, and custodians of children with congenital anomalies or abnormal conditions of medical care and other services available for the child and family.
(2) The director may disclose information assembled by the system with the written consent of the parent or legal guardian of the child who is the subject of the information.
(1) Access to information assembled by the system shall be limited to the following persons and government entities:
(a) The director of health;
(b) Authorized employees of the department of health;
(c) Qualified persons or government entities that are engaged in demographic, epidemiological, or similar studies related to health and health care provision.
(2) The director shall give a person or government entity described in division (C)(1)(c) of this section access to the system only if the person or a representative of the person or government entity signs an agreement to maintain the system's confidentiality.
(3) The director shall maintain a record of all persons and government entities given access to the information in the system. The record shall include all of the following information:
(a) The name of the person who authorized access to the system;
(b) The name, title, and organizational affiliation of the person or government entity given access to the system;
(c) The dates the person or government entity was given access to the system;
(d) The specific purpose for which the person or government entity intends to use the information.
(4) The record maintained pursuant to division (C)(3) of this section is a public record, as defined in section 149.43 of the Revised Code.
(5) A person who violates an agreement described in division (C)(2) of this section may be denied further access to confidential information maintained by the director.
(D) The director may disclose information assembled by the system in summary, statistical, or other form that does not identify particular individuals or individual sources of information.
Effective Date: 10-05-2000.
As used in this section, "local health department" means a health department operated by the board of health of a city or general health district or the authority having the duties of a board of health under section 3709.05 of the Revised Code.
A child's parent or legal guardian who wants information concerning the child removed from the birth defects information system shall request from the local health department or the child's physician a form prepared by the director of health. On request, a local health department or physician shall provide the form to the child's parent or legal guardian. The individual providing the form shall discuss with the child's parent or legal guardian the information contained in the system. If the child's parent or legal guardian signs the form, the department or physician shall forward it to the director. On receipt of the signed form, the director shall remove from the system any information that identifies the child.
Effective Date: 10-05-2000.
Effective Date: 10-05-2004.
Not later than one hundred eighty days after October 5, 2000, the director of health shall adopt rules in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code to do all of the following:
(A) Implement the birth defects information system;
(B) Specify the types of congenital anomalies and abnormal conditions of newborns to be reported to the system under section 3705.30 of the Revised Code;
(C) Establish reporting requirements for information concerning diagnosed congenital anomalies and abnormal conditions of newborns;
(D) Establish standards that must be met by persons or government entities that seek access to the system;
(E) Establish a form for use by parents or legal guardians who seek to have information regarding their children removed from the system and a method of distributing the form to local health departments, as defined in section 3705.33 of the Revised Code, and to physicians. The method of distribution must include making the form available on the internet.
Amended by 131st General Assembly File No. TBD, HB 471, §1, eff. 12/19/2016.
Effective Date: 10-05-2000.
Three years after the date a birth defects information system is implemented pursuant to section 3705.30 of the Revised Code, and annually thereafter, the department of health shall prepare a report regarding the birth defects information system. The department shall file the report with the governor, the president and minority leader of the senate, the speaker and minority leader of the house of representatives, the departments of developmental disabilities, education, and job and family services, the commission on minority health, and the news media.
Amended by 131st General Assembly File No. TBD, HB 471, §1, eff. 12/19/2016.
Amended by 128th General Assemblych.127, SB 79, §1, eff. 10/6/2009.
Effective Date: 10-05-2000.
(A) As used in this section :
(1) "Board of health" means a board of health of a city or general health district or the authority having the duties of a board of health under section 3709.05 of the Revised Code.
(2) "Geocoding" means a geographic information system (GIS) operation for converting street addresses into spatial data that can be displayed as features on a map, usually by referencing address information from a street segment data layer.
(B) The state registrar shall ensure that each board of health has access to preliminary birth and death data maintained by the department of health, as well as access to any electronic system of vital records the state registrar or department of health maintains, including the Ohio public health information warehouse. To the extent possible, the preliminary data shall be provided in a format that permits geocoding. If the state registrar requires a board to enter into a data use agreement before accessing such data or systems, the state registrar shall provide each board with an application for this purpose and, if requested, assist with the application's completion.
(C) The state registrar shall provide the users of the preliminary data and electronic systems described in division (B) of this section with a data analysis tool kit that assists the users with using the data in a manner that promotes consistency and accuracy among users. The tool kit shall include a data dictionary and sample data analyses.
Added by 131st General Assembly File No. TBD, SB 332, §1, eff. 4/6/2017.
(A) As used in this section:
(1) "Freestanding birthing center" has the same meaning as in section 3702.141 of the Revised Code.
(2) "Funeral services worker" means a person licensed as a funeral director or embalmer under Chapter 4717. of the Revised C ode or an individual responsible for the direct final disposition of a deceased person.
(3) "Hospital" means a hospital classified pursuant to rules adopted under section 3701.07 of the Revised Code as a general hospital or children's hospital and to which either of the following applies:
(a) The hospital has a maternity unit.
(b) The hospital receives for care infants who have been transferred to it from other facilities and who have never been discharged to their residences following birth.
(4) "Maternity unit" means the distinct portion of a hospital licensed as a maternity unit under Chapter 3711. of the Revised Code.
(B) At least annually, the state registrar shall offer to provide training for appropriate staff of hospitals and freestanding birthing centers, as well as funeral services workers, on their responsibilities under the laws of this state and any rules adopted pursuant to those laws pertaining to vital records. If provided, the training shall cover correct data entry procedures and time limits for reporting vital statistics information for the purpose of ensuring accuracy and consistency of the system of vital statistics.
Added by 131st General Assembly File No. TBD, SB 332, §1, eff. 4/6/2017.
(A) Whoever violates division (A) , (B), or (H) of section 3705.29 of the Revised Code shall be fined not more than ten thousand dollars or incarcerated for a term of not more than five years, or both.
(B) Whoever violates division (C), (E), (F), or (G) of section 3705.29 of the Revised Code shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars or incarcerated for a term of not more than one year, or both.
(C) Whoever violates division (D) of section 3705.29 of the Revised Code is guilty of a misdemeanor of the third degree.
Effective Date: 09-18-1996; 08-17-2006.