Commentary on Provisions Family law Paragraph 1: Modification of the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Scotland) Act 1965
39.Paragraph 1 of schedule 2 amends Part 2 of the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Scotland) Act 1965 (“the 1965 Act”). Part 2 of the 1965 Act provides for the registration of births. Section 13 sets out the particulars of birth to be registered.
40.Section 14 specifies which persons have a duty to give those particulars of birth, including certain fathers. Section 14(5) excludes fathers who are not married to the mother and have not been married to her since the child’s conception. It would therefore not apply the duty to a father who had been in a civil partnership with the mother. Paragraph 1(2) of schedule 2 of the Bill amends section 14 to limit that exclusion to fathers who are neither married to nor in a civil partnership with the mother and have neither been married to nor in a civil partnership with her since the child’s conception. The overall effect of section 14, once amended, is to apply the duty to a father who has been either married to or in a civil partnership with the mother at some point since the child’s conception.
41.Section 18 provides that the name of a child’s father is only to be entered in the register of births if the father is married to the mother, or has been married to her since the child’s conception, or if certain conditions are satisfied (generally requiring the mother to ask for the father’s name to be entered). The effect of the amendment to section 18 made by paragraph 1(3) of schedule 2 of the Act is to require the name of a child’s father to be entered in the register if the father is in a civil partnership with the mother, or has been in a civil partnership with her since the child’s conception.
42.Section 20 of the 1965 Act provides for re-registration in certain cases, including where the register suggests that a person was born at a time when the person’s parents were not married but they have subsequently done so. Paragraph 1(4) of schedule 2 amends section 20 and extends this case to include the case where a person’s parents subsequently enter into a civil partnership.