How to prove kinship: step by step instructions

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Why prove kinship and how to do it - says Fedor Borisovich Lyudogovsky, senior researcher at the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and an amateur genealogist.

Why do you need to prove kinship?

Proofs of kinship may be needed when drawing up a donation agreement: if a gift is issued to a close relative, then the donee is exempt from taxation.

In addition, you will probably need proof of kinship when studying your family history. Firstly, so to speak, for myself, in order to understand who has whom to whom. Secondly, to be able to receive new documents and new data based on the data and documents that you already have.

Where to begin?

First you need to make sure that you have a valid (that is, not damaged and not expired) passport. And you also need a birth certificate.

And what if the birth certificate has been lost long ago?

You can restore it. It's not difficult at all. To obtain a birth certificate, you will need to come to the registry office where your birth was registered. If you live in another city, you can write a letter to this registry office with a request to send a duplicate of your birth certificate to the registry office at your current place of residence.

Will I be required to do anything other than a passport?

Yes, it will be required, but not so much. You will have to fill out an application in the prescribed form (there are almost always forms in the lobby), as well as pay a state fee of 350 rubles. It is better to do the latter in advance, then you do not have to queue twice. Requisites can be found on the website of the regional registry office, as well as in the registry office itself: samples on the stands and sometimes ready-made receipts on the tables.

How long will it take to issue a duplicate?

You will probably have to sit (or stand) in line first. That's how lucky you are. Somewhere you will be accepted immediately, but somewhere the wait will last an hour, or even two.

But if you were accepted and all your documents are in order, then it will take about 15 minutes to issue a duplicate. The registry office employees will be grateful if you provide the maximum information you have. The certificate itself has been lost, but perhaps a photocopy has survived? If so, then from this copy you can extract important data: the date and number of the act record. That is, in simple terms, you will find out when and under what number your birth was entered in the registration books.

Can I get birth certificates for my grandparents who have already died?

Yes, in principle, it is possible. I myself have personally obtained repeat birth certificates for both of my grandmothers. But you need to act in stages.

So, you have your own birth certificate. Let's consider the simplest case first: you are a man and you want to obtain a birth certificate for your paternal grandfather.

If your grandfather was born before the revolution, then you need to apply not to the registry office, but to the regional archive where church books are kept. There, if you're lucky, you can find a certificate of baptism of your grandfather (if he was a Christian) or some similar records - if he belonged to a different religion.

If the grandfather was born after the revolution (more precisely, starting from the second half of 1918), then you may well find his birth certificate.

What documents do I need for this?

To obtain a birth certificate of your paternal grandfather, you, firstly, will need all the same documents as for obtaining your own birth certificate: passport, application, receipt of payment of state duty.

Secondly, you will need to prove your relationship with your grandfather. How to do it? You will have to show the registry office employees one additional document - your father's birth certificate.

However, there is one more thing. You receive a document for another person. If this person is alive, then he must issue you a power of attorney, where it would be explicitly stated that you have the right to receive documents for him from the registry office (usually this is included in the blank of the so-called general power of attorney). If a person died, then you will need to prove this fact (that is, provide a death certificate), and also, again, prove kinship, because confidential information and documents are not given out to strangers.

Can you do it again, but shorter?

Of course, please. If you want to obtain a birth certificate for your deceased paternal grandfather, you will need:

• Your passport;
• your birth certificate, which lists your father;
• father's birth certificate showing your grandfather as his father;
• grandfather's death certificate;
• receipt of payment of state duty;
• Application for the issuance of your grandfather's repeated birth certificate.

Isn't it possible to do all this in a simpler way?

Unfortunately no. But if you act in stages, then all this is not so scary. If you have lost your birth certificate, restore it. If your father's birth certificate is lost, let him restore it himself or write a power of attorney for you. If your father is no longer alive, you have every right to receive his birth certificate by presenting all the necessary documents (including the father's death certificate).

What if I need to get a death certificate for my great-grandfather?

This is also quite possible. Just a couple of weeks ago, I myself received the death certificate of my great-grandfather - the father of my mother's mother. It took me:

• my passport;
• my birth certificate;
• my mom's birth certificate;
• my mother's marriage certificate (to document the change of surname);
• my grandmother's birth certificate;
• my grandmother's marriage certificate;
• receipt of payment of state duty.

I do not mention the application here, because in the Meshchansky department of the registry office of the city of Moscow, where I received this certificate, the application is filled out by the employees themselves, you only sign. This happens in some other departments of the registry office.

What if I want to get a death certificate for my great-great-grandfather?

And this, in principle, is also possible, but somewhat more complicated. Let's say your great-great-grandfather died after the revolution - then the registry office already existed. But your great-grandmother, his daughter - or, accordingly, great-grandfather, his son - must have been born before the revolution. This means that in the local archive you will need to get an archival certificate, which will contain information from the pre-revolutionary register of births. And with all the necessary certificates issued by the registry office itself, as well as with this certificate, which you will receive not in the registry office, but in the regional archive, you will come to the registry office where the death of your great-great-grandfather was registered.

What if I do not know in which registry office to receive this or that certificate?

Until recently, in such cases, it was necessary to contact the regional registry office. The employees of the department carried out searches, and then sent you the result by mail: a birth certificate, for example, of your grandfather, you can get in such and such a department of the registry office; such and such a date, such and such an act record number.

Now the situation has changed a bit, at least in Moscow. You must come to any department of the registry office (the easiest way is to the one closest to your home or work) and write an application in a special form, indicating in it the maximum available information. After that, your application goes to the same management, and you get an answer. Of course, it can be both positive and negative - in the event that nothing was found.

Where to look for documents if the registry office where my grandmother got married is no longer there?

Yes, it happens. But this does not cause great inconvenience, since all movements of archive funds are tracked and recorded. All information, as a rule, is on the website of the regional registry office.

Is it worth doing all this at all?

This is a matter of your personal preference. But from my own experience I can say that it is not that difficult. Having obtained a couple of registry office certificates, you acquire a certain skill. It will be easier to get the fourth and fifth certificates.