Iowa · statute · Iowa Code ch. 144 · 65 active provisions
As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires: 1. “Court of competent jurisdiction” when used to refer to inspection of an original certificate of birth based upon an adoption means the court where the adoption was ordered. 2. “Cremated remains” means all the remains of the cremated human body recovere…
The department shall install, maintain, and operate the system of vital statistics throughout the state. No system for the registration of births, deaths, fetal deaths, adoptions, marriages, dissolutions, and annulments, shall be maintained in the state or any of its political subdivisions other than the one provided f…
The department may adopt, amend, and repeal rules for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this chapter, in accordance with chapter 17A.
The director or the director’s designee shall be the state registrar of vital statistics and shall carry out the provisions of this chapter.
The state registrar shall do all of the following: 1. Administer and enforce this chapter and the rules issued under this chapter, and issue instructions for the efficient administration of the statewide system of vital statistics. 2. Direct and supervise the statewide system of vital statistics and be custodian of its…
The county recorder is the county registrar and with respect to the county shall: 1. Administer and enforce this chapter and the rules issued by the department. 2. Record and transmit the certificates, reports, or other returns filed with the county registrar to the state registrar at least semimonthly, or more frequen…
The county registrar shall allow public access to public records under the custody of the county registrar during normal business hours for county offices in the county.
In order to promote and maintain uniformity in the system of vital statistics, the forms of certificates, reports, and other returns shall include as a minimum the items recommended by the federal agency responsible for national vital statistics, subject to approval and modification by the department. Forms shall be fu…
1. As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires: a. “Child” means a person under eighteen years of age for whom paternity has not been established. b. “Court” means the juvenile court. c. “Father” means the male, biological parent of a child. d. “Putative father” means a man who is alleged to be or wh…
1. Certificates of births shall be filed as follows: a. A certificate of birth for each live birth which occurs in this state shall be filed as directed by the state registrar within seven days after the birth and shall be registered by the county registrar if it has been completed and filed in accordance with this cha…
1. The state registrar shall charge the parent a fee of twenty dollars for the registration of a certificate of birth. 2. The state registrar shall charge the parent a separate fee established under section 144.46 for a certified copy of the certificate. The certified copy shall include all of the information included…
Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter to the contrary, the certified copy fees for a birth certificate or death certificate of a service member who died while performing military duty, as defined in section 29A.1, subsection 3, 8, or 12, shall be waived for a period of one year from the date of death for a fami…
1. A person who assumes the custody of a living infant of unknown parentage shall report on a form and in the manner prescribed by the state registrar within five days to the county registrar of the county in which the child was found, the following information: a. The date and place the child was found. b. The sex, co…
1. When the birth of a person born in this state has not been registered, a certificate may be filed in accordance with regulations. The certificate shall be registered subject to evidentiary requirements prescribed to substantiate the alleged facts of birth. Certificates of birth registered one year or more after the…
When a death or marriage occurring in this state has not been registered, a certificate may be filed in accordance with regulations. Such certificate shall be registered subject to evidentiary requirements prescribed to substantiate the alleged facts of death or marriage. Certificates of death and marriage registered o…
1. If a delayed certificate of birth is rejected under the provisions of section 144.15, a petition may be filed with the district court for an order establishing a record of the date and place of the birth and the parentage of the person whose birth is to be registered. 2. a. The petition shall be made on a form presc…
1. The court shall fix a time and place for hearing the petition and shall give the registration official who refused to register the petitioner’s delayed certificate of birth at least ten days’ notice of such hearing. If both persons to be named as parents are not a party to the petition, such person or persons, if li…
For each adoption decreed by any court in this state, the court shall require the preparation of a certificate of adoption on a form prescribed and furnished by the state registrar. The certificate shall include a report of the facts necessary to locate and identify the certificate of birth of the person adopted, provi…
Information in the possession of the petitioner necessary to prepare the adoption report shall be furnished with the petition for adoption by each petitioner for adoption or the petitioner’s attorney. The adoption service provider or other person concerned shall supply the court with such additional information in thei…
Whenever an adoption decree is amended or annulled, the clerk of the court shall prepare a certificate, which shall include facts necessary to identify the original adoption report, and facts in the adoption decree necessary to properly amend the birth record.
Not later than the tenth day of each calendar month, the clerk of the court shall forward to the state registrar certificates of adoption, or amendment or annulment of adoption, entered in the preceding month, together with such related reports as the state registrar requires. The state registrar, upon receipt from a c…
1. The state registrar shall establish a new certificate of birth for a person born in this state, when the state registrar receives the following: a. An adoption report as provided in section 144.19, or a certified copy of the decree of adoption together with the information necessary to identify the original certific…
1. Notwithstanding whether an original certificate of birth is substituted with a new certificate of birth pursuant to section 144.24 following adoption of the subject of the original certificate of birth, whether a new certificate of birth is issued to show that a person for whom the new certificate is requested has b…
1. If a new certificate of birth is established, the actual place and date of birth shall be shown on the certificate and shall include a designation of the person’s sex pursuant to section 144.23. The certificate shall be substituted for the original certificate of birth. 2. Following substitution of the original cert…
1. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, an adopted person who was born in this state and whose original certificate of birth was substituted with a new certificate of birth pursuant to section 144.24 based upon the adoption, or an entitled person, may apply for and obtain a noncertified copy of the ori…