How to Correct Erroneous Entries in Marriage Certificate

A marriage certificate is an official statement or proof that two people are married. A recently married person required to updates their records such as civil status, surname, address, etc. on their public or private documents in banks, at work or in government agencies, thus the major requirements is your authenticated Certificate of Marriage.

It’s very important to double check your copy of Marriage Certificate, make sure you secure genuine records free of errors. If you encounter errors, better take actions immediately than to say sorry.

For your reference, here are the guidelines to correct erroneous entries in Marriage Certificate.

Common Errors in Marriage Certificate

• Wrong spelling on the name of bride and/or groom
• No entries in some of the items in the Marriage Certificate
• Blurred/unreadable entries
• Negative result or No record at NSO
• Error in the date and place of marriage
• Annotation on the annulment/declaration of nullity of marriage
• Annotation on the effects of divorce declared in a foreign country
• No signatures of the contracting parties (Replacement of NSO copy based on CTC from local)

1. Wrong spelling on the name of bride and/or groom

The first name of the bride and/or groom entered in the Certificate of Marriage (COM) is different from the first name as appearing in the registered Certificate of Live Birth (COLB).

How to correct

File a petition for the correction of entry/ies.

2. No entries in some of the items in the Certificate of Marriage

The COM lacks entry/ies in any of the items except at the Certification portion.

How to correct

Execute Affidavit of Supplemental Report on missing entries executed by the owner of the document and the copy of COLB from NSO.

3. Blurred/unreadable entries

A requested copy of the COM in security paper from NSO is found out blurred or have unreadable entry/ies.

How to correct

Request an endorsement of a certified copy of the COM with clear/readable copy to NSO. If the file copy is also blurred or has unreadable entries, request the LCRO for endorsement of Municipal Form 3A.

4. Negative result or No record at NSO

A request for copy issuance of COM at NSO resulted to a Negative Certification

How to correct

Kindly request the LCR of the place where the document was registered to endorsed a certified copy of the COM at NSO.

5. Error in the date and place of marriage

How to correct

File a petition for the correction of entry/ies.

6. Annotation on the annulment/declaration of nullity of marriage

A request for copy issuance of annotated COM resulted to COM in Security Paper (SECPA) without the annotation on annulment.

How to correct

Verify from LCRO if the supporting documents for processing the annotated COM were already forwarded to NSO. If not, request for certified true copies of the following supporting documents to be used in the processing of the annotated COM:

• Court Decree of Annulment/Declaration of Nullity of Marriage
• Certificate of Finality
• Certificate of Registration
• Certificate of Authenticity
• UN-annotated Marriage Certificate
• Annotated marriage certificate
• The above requirements shall be submitted to NSO for re-processing of the request.

A request for annotated COM resulted to error in the annotation.

How to correct

Proceed to NSO-Vidal Building located at 4th Floor Vidal Building, EDSA corner, Times St., Quezon City for the correction of the annotation made.

7. Annotation on the effects of divorce declared in a foreign country

A request for copy issuance of COM with annotation on the effects of divorce abroad resulted to a negative result or COM without annotation.

How to correct

• The divorce decree granted by a foreign country must first be filed for recognition in the Philippine Regional Trial Court (RTC).
• Once the local court recognized the foreign divorce decree, register it to the LCRO of the place of jurisdiction of the RTC which granted the petition.
• The next step is to provide the copy of the registered court decree and certificate of finality to the LCRO where the marriage was registered for the annotation in the COM.
• Once registered, you may now request for an annotated COM at NSO.  The complete set of documents: registered court decree, certificate of finality, certificate of registration and the annotated COM is to be forwarded through courier to NSO for processing. Also hand-carry the set of documents for filing an application at NSO-Central Outlet, East Avenue.

8. No signatures of the contracting parties (Replacement of NSO copy based on CTC from local)

The COM filed at NSO has no signatures of both the contracting parties.

How to correct

• Proceed to the concern LCRO to verify their file if it contains signatures of the contracting parties.
• If the copy filed at LCRO has signatures, request the concern LCRO to endorse a certified photocopy copy of the COM to NSO.

Who Shall File

• owner of the record
• owners spouse
• other person duly authorized by law or by the owner of the document sought to be corrected
• the owner of the document or any authorized representative

Where to File

The Local Civil Registry Office (LCRO) where the COM was registered.

Fees

Under RA 9048 law, the City/Municipal Civil Registrar (C/MCR) or District/Circuit Registrar (C/DR) shall collect a fee of P 1,000.00 for filing a petition for correction of entries.

Source: PSA