In a prior post from 2022, I discussed Utah Code 26-2-15, which has since been recodified to Utah Code 26B-8-119, pursuant to which a person may petition for a court order establishing the fact, time, and place of a birth for which no registered birth certificate is obtainable. In this manner, a birth certificate could be issued where one previously did not exist. At this time, nearby section 26-2-11 of the Utah Code provided a means for amending an existing birth certificate. Specifically, this statute provided instruction to the registrar that if a name change or sex change had been approved by a court, pursuant to an application form approved by the registrar, the registrar was required to "note the fact of the amendment on the otherwise unaltered original certificate."
Utah Code 26-2-11 was repealed and reenacted in 2023 to create "the procedure a court must follow to grant a petition to amend the sex designation of a birth certificate." Pursuant to this reenacted statute, a court may grant a sex designation change on a birth certificate if, among other things, the petitioner shows by clear and convincing evidence that he or she "has transitioned from the sex designation of the biological sex at birth to the sex sought in the petition [and has] outwardly expressed as the sex sought in the petition in a consistent and uniform manner for at least six months; and... suffers from clinically significant distress or impairment due to the current sex designation on the birth certificate."
Upon receiving such a court order, the petitioner is entitled to receive "a birth certificate that does not indicate which fields were amended..." Utah Code 26-2-11 was recodified in March of 2023 to Utah Code 26B-8-111. This statute was amended earlier this year to require a petitioner for a name or sex designation change to indicate whether they are registered with the Sex and Kidnap Offender Registry and allow the court to consider whether to grant the petition for any who are so registered.
Utah Code 26B, Chapter 8, Part 1 - Vital Statistics contains the law for issuing and modifying birth and death certificates. Section 111 is particularly helpful to individuals who have transitioned from their biological sex at birth as indicated on their original birth certificate.
Utah Code 26-2-11 was repealed and reenacted in 2023 to create "the procedure a court must follow to grant a petition to amend the sex designation of a birth certificate." Pursuant to this reenacted statute, a court may grant a sex designation change on a birth certificate if, among other things, the petitioner shows by clear and convincing evidence that he or she "has transitioned from the sex designation of the biological sex at birth to the sex sought in the petition [and has] outwardly expressed as the sex sought in the petition in a consistent and uniform manner for at least six months; and... suffers from clinically significant distress or impairment due to the current sex designation on the birth certificate."
Upon receiving such a court order, the petitioner is entitled to receive "a birth certificate that does not indicate which fields were amended..." Utah Code 26-2-11 was recodified in March of 2023 to Utah Code 26B-8-111. This statute was amended earlier this year to require a petitioner for a name or sex designation change to indicate whether they are registered with the Sex and Kidnap Offender Registry and allow the court to consider whether to grant the petition for any who are so registered.
Utah Code 26B, Chapter 8, Part 1 - Vital Statistics contains the law for issuing and modifying birth and death certificates. Section 111 is particularly helpful to individuals who have transitioned from their biological sex at birth as indicated on their original birth certificate.