Should there be an RCE?.....

[Maisie]

Before I browbeat SP for taking £10 off me for nothing can anyone confirm that an oval stamp on the margin of a birth certificate with the word "Paternity" hand written in the middle indicates an RCE? I sent for the certificate and it's identical to the on-line version with no additional information. The stamp is very indistinct even in the extract and I can't read any of the text of the stamp itself, just the word Paternity in the middle.

Thanks

Maisie

[AndrewP]

Hi Maisie,

I would think that your assumption is right. The oval stamp will have writing round the oval, which may be indistinct, but should read Register of Corrected Entries, or some abbreviated form of that. I have seen the Register of Corrected Entries stamp with the word paternity written across it as you describe.

It may be worth you submitting a contact form back to SP saying that you believe the stamp mark there is for an RCE and that the RCE was not included with the certificate that you purchased from them. See what response you get to that.

All the best,

AndrewP

[DavidWW]

There's a subtlety involved here, that is not generally realised or understood.

I'm unclear exactly what has happened here, since what should have happened when you ordered an official £10 extract is that it would be typewritten, or maybe handwritten, but not based on a photocopy of the original register entry. Either the text of the RCE should be on the reverse of the extract, or, more normally, the name of the father shown in the RCE entry inserted on the typewritten extract, with no indication of the situation other than the fact that the mother is shown in the format plain Mary SMITH instead of Mary BROWN MS SMITH, with no place and date of marriage.

In other words, in situations such as this, where there is subsequent proof of paternity, most probably based on a Sheriff Court action, a £10 extract won't always be based on a photocopy of the actual, original register entry.

In such a situation, the only way to see the original unaltered entry is to view the image on-line or at NRH.

Clear as mud

To comment further, I'd need to see the original image as well as a copy of the £10 extract, just in case there's something here that I'm missing.


David

[Maisie]

Thanks David and Andrew

I've posted the BC (Mary Jane Lamb) to the gallery
http://talkingscot.com/gallery/displayi ... p?pos=-798
- what I got from SP was a photocopy of the original entry with nothing on the back. Grateful for any further advice on what to do now, even if it's only ask for my money back!

Mary's mother married a couple of years later and when Mary herself married her stepfather was shown as her father, but we know he wasn't.

Maisie

<image URL added, LesleyB>

[Tracey]

Maisie if i have read you right this is what you could have or should have expected to see / recieve.

http://talkingscot.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 70&start=0

scroll down to my entry - Tracey- 3rd one from the bottom This is what S/P sent me reply and there is a link.
I have had three of these Paternity stamps on birth entries and i have sent a contact form everytime to SP and they have always kindly sent me the same as above.

[DavidWW]

Thanks David and Andrew

I've posted the BC (Mary Jane Lamb) to the gallery
http://talkingscot.com/gallery/displayi ... p?pos=-798
- what I got from SP was a photocopy of the original entry with nothing on the back. Grateful for any further advice on what to do now, even if it's only ask for my money back!

Mary's mother married a couple of years later and when Mary herself married her stepfather was shown as her father, but we know he wasn't.

Maisie

<image URL added, LesleyB>

Maisie

Without even asking you should either have received an extract modified to show the name of the father from the paternity action, or what you received plus a copy of the RCE entry, unless thee is something most peculiar in the RCE entry ..... so ask them !

David

[Maisie]

Thanks so much to you all. I e-mailed SP and they have replied already with the name and occupation of the father and will send me the RCE.

I'm also grateful to TS for putting me on the right track in the first place. Mary is a VERY close relative so hers was one of the first BC's I downloaded. The entry below hers has a totally handwritten paternity RCE so I thought they were all like that until I saw reference to paternity stamps in a recent posting. That made me go back to the BC and look at it more closely.

Now all I have to do is find what happened to the errant father. Family legend has him sent to Australia for getting Mary's mother into trouble.

Many thanks once again.

Maisie