Why is it necessary to prove affinity?
Proof of kinship may be needed when signing a gift agreement: if the gift is registered with a close relative, the donee is exempt from taxation.
In addition, the proof of kinship is surely required for you when studying the history of your family. First, so to speak, for yourself, to understand who is whoever. Secondly, for the possibility of obtaining 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 spoiled and not overdue) passport. And you will need a birth certificate.
And if the birth certificate has long been lost?
You can restore it. It’s quite simple. To obtain a birth certificate, you will need to come to the registry office, where you registered your birth. 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 the place of your current residence.
Will I need anything from me, except my passport?
Yes, it is required, but not too much. You will have to fill out the application in the prescribed form (the forms are almost always in the hall), and also pay a state duty of 350 rubles. Make the latter better 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: samples on the stands and sometimes ready receipts on the tables.
How long will it take to issue a duplicate?
At first you will probably have to sit (or stand up) in line. Then how lucky. Somewhere you will be accepted immediately, but somewhere the waiting will last an hour, or even two.
But if you are accepted and all the documents are in order, then the issue of a duplicate will take approximately 15 minutes. The registrar will be grateful if you tell me the maximum of the information you have. The certificate itself is lost, but, perhaps, a photocopy has been preserved? If so, then from this copy you can extract important data: the date and the number of the record. That is, simply put, you will know when and under what number your birth was recorded in the registration books.
Can I get birth certificates for my grandparents who have already died?
Yes, in principle, it is possible. I personally received repeated testimonies of the birth of both my grandmothers. But you need to act step by step.
So, you have a certificate of your own birth. Consider first the simplest case: you are a man, and you want to get a certificate of the birth of his grandfather by his father.
If the grandfather was born before the revolution, then you need to contact not in the registry office, but in the regional archive, where the 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 another religion.
If grandfather was born after the revolution (more precisely, starting from the second half of 1918), then you can quite find his birth certificate.
What documents do I need for this?
To obtain a certificate of birth of your grandfather by father, you, first, will require all the same documents as for obtaining your own birth certificate: passport, application, receipt for payment of state duty.
Secondly, you will need to prove your kinship with your grandfather. How to do it? You will have to show the registrar one additional document – a certificate of your father’s birth.
However, there is one more point. You receive the document for another person. If this person is alive, he must give you a power of attorney, where it would be clearly written that you have the right to receive documents from the registry office for him (usually this is included in the blank of the so-called general power of attorney). If the person has died, then you will need to prove this fact (that is, to provide a death certificate), and, again, to prove the relationship, because people do not give out confidential information and documents to strangers.
And you can again, but shorter?
Of course, please. If you want to get a certificate of the birth of your deceased grandfather by your father, you will need:
- Your passport;
- Your birth certificate, in which your father is listed;
- the birth certificate of the father, in which your grandfather is listed as his father;
- a certificate of grandfather’s death;
- receipt of payment of state duty;
- application for the issuance of a re-certification of the birth of your grandfather.
And can not all this be done somehow simpler?
Unfortunately no. But if you act step-by-step, 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 to you. If the father is no longer alive, you have the full right to receive his birth certificate, showing all the necessary documents (including a certificate of the death of the father).
And if I need to get a certificate of the great-grandfather’s death?
This is also quite possible. Literally a couple of weeks ago I myself received a certificate of the death of my great-grandfather – the father of my mother’s mother. It took me:
- my passport;
- my birth certificate;
- my mother’s birth certificate;
- certificate of marriage of my mother (to document the change of name);
- my grandmother’s birth certificate;
- my grandmother’s marriage certificate;
- receipt for payment of state duty.
I do not mention the statement here, because in the Meshchansky department of the registry office in Moscow, where I received this certificate, the application is filled out by the staff, you just sign. So it happens in some other departments of the registry office.
And if I want to get a certificate of the great-grandfather’s death?
And this, in principle, is also possible, but somewhat more complicated. Suppose your great-great-grandfather died after the revolution – then the registry office already existed. But your great-grandmother, his daughter – or, accordingly, his great-grandfather, his son, – probably were born before the revolution. This means that in the local archive you will need to get an archive certificate, which will contain information from the pre-revolutionary metric book. And now with all the necessary evidence issued by the registry office itself, and also 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 I get this or that certificate?
Until recently, in such cases it was necessary to apply to the regional registry office. The employees of the administration made searches, and then sent you by mail the result: a birth certificate, say, your grandfather, you can get in such a department of the registry office; such-and-such a date, such and such an act number.
Now the situation has changed a little, at least in Moscow. You should come to any department of the registry office (the easiest way is to the nearest to your home or to work) and write a statement on a special form, indicating in it the maximum of 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 is found.
Where do I look for documents, if there is already no such registry office where my grandmother married?
Yes, it happens. But this does not cause much inconvenience, since all transfers of archival funds are monitored and recorded. All information, as a rule, is on the website of the regional registry office.
Is it worth it all to do?
This is a matter of your personal preferences. But from my own experience I can say that it is not so difficult. Having obtained a couple of Zagovsky certificates, you acquire a certain skill. Getting the fourth and fifth evidence will be easier.
