THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS AUSTIN. TP,XAS 78711 October 3, 1977 Honorable Robert Grade1 Opinion No. H-1064 Lampasas County Attorney P. 0. Box 95 Re: Whether a county clerk Lampasas, Texas 76550 can replace an erroneous original death certificate with a corrected certificate. Dear Mr. Gradel: You have asked for an opinion on the following question: Whether the County Clerk can remove a death certificate which has an erroneous cause of death, and replace it with a new original, with the correct cause of death? Rule 40a of article 4477, V.T.C.S.., requires the filing of a certificate for each death with the local registrar of the district in which the death occurred. Rule 51a, article 4477, provides for the amendment of death certificates: After its acceptance for registration by the local registrar, no record of any birth, death, or stillbirth shall be altered or changed: provided, however, that if any such record is incomplete, or satisfactory evidence can be submitted proving the record to be in error in any respect, an amending certificate may be filed for the purpose of completing or correcting such record, which amendment shall be in a form prescribed by the State Department of Health and shall, if accepted for filing, be attached to and become a part of the legal record of such birth, death, or stillbirth. This provision expressly forbids alteration of a death certi- ficate after its acceptance by the local registrar. Anyone who wilfully alters a death certificate other than as provided by rule 51a of article 4477 is guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction is subject to punishment. V.T.C.S. art. 4477~. .p. 4564 Honorable Robert Grade1 - Page 2 (H-1064) Attorney General Opinion O-4654 (1942), discussing this portion of rule 51a, determined that an erroneous birth cer- tificate should not be removed or destroyed, but corrected by attaching an amendment. We believe the removal of the erro- neous certificate would be an alteration of a death record forbidden by rule 51a. Cf. Wichita Farm Lighting Co. v. Moore, 46 S.W.2d 383 (Tex. Civ.xp. -- Amarillo 1932, no writ) (de- tachment of written agreement attached to note constituted material alteration of note). We understand that the death certificate in this case has already been corrected in accor- dance with rule 51a by the attachment of an amending certifi- cate, which is now part of the legal record of the death. SUMMARY The County Clerk may not remove a death certificate which has an erroneous cause of death and replace it with a new origi- nal showing the correct cause of death. The certificate may be corrected in ac- cordance with rule 51a of article 4477, V.T.C.S ., ,by the attachment of an amending certificate. Attorney General of Texas APPROVED: YL-LA+ DAVID M. KENDALL, First Assistant c. ROBERT HEATH, Chairman Opinion Committee jst P. 4565
Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion
Combined Opinion