Massachusetts Statutes

Section 17D. If an amendment to a birth, death or marriage record is completed at the state registry, the state registrar shall forward a certified copy of the amended birth, death or marriage record to all cities and towns holding an original or certified copy of the initial rec…

Section 18. Records transmitted by the town clerk under section 12 and sections 17 to 17D, inclusive, shall be written in legible hand, typewritten, printed using an electronic format approved by the state registrar or printed using the centralized, automated database operated by…

Section 19. The record of the town clerk relative to a birth, marriage or death shall be prima facie evidence of the facts recorded, but nothing contained in the record of a death which has reference to the question of liability for causing the death shall be admissible in eviden…

Section 19A. Reproductions of certificates or records referred to in section nineteen by any person other than the town clerk, assistant clerk, commissioner of public health shall be prohibited, except that a register of deeds, register of probate or other county, state, municipa…

Section 19B. A certified copy of a birth record furnished under section two A shall not, unless the applicant so requests or unless the certificate is to be used in conjunction with a judicial proceeding, include the name of or any other information regarding the mother.

Section 19C. The state registrar shall use the seal of the department of public health for the purpose of authenticating copies of birth, marriage and death records, and copies of such records when certified by him and authenticated by said seal, shall be evidence like the origin…

Section 1A. Each town clerk shall receive or obtain and record in the record of births facts relative to births of abandoned children and foundlings found within the limits of his town and the identity of whose parents is unknown. The facts relative to births required by section …

Section 1B. Any resident of the commonwealth who is the parent of a child born outside the commonwealth may personally present to the town clerk of the town where such parent was domiciled at the time of such birth, or in the case of an adopted child, at the time of such adoption…

Section 1C. The spouse or heirs at law of any resident of this commonwealth who dies outside the commonwealth may personally present to the town clerk of the town where such person was domiciled at the time of his death an original certificate or other written evidence of the sam…

Section 1D. Each party to a marriage may adopt any surname, including but not limited to the present or birth-given surname of either party, may retain or resume use of a present or birth-given surname, or may adopt any hyphenated combination thereof.

Section 1E. As used in this chapter the following words shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise: (a) "Administrator'', the hospital administrator or other person in charge of a hospital or similar institution in which births occur. "Certif…

Section 2. Separate indexes of births, marriages and deaths shall be kept, and each entry shall be numbered in its order. The town clerk shall preserve all returns of births, marriages and deaths and shall conveniently arrange them for examination. He may record in separate colum…

Section 20. Records of birth and death previously held by the superintendent of Tewksbury Hospital shall be transferred to the town clerk of Tewksbury. No certified copies of these records shall be issued by the superintendent of Tewksbury Hospital.

Section 22. Any city, except Boston, and any town containing more than ten thousand inhabitants, may provide for the appointment of a person other than the clerk to be registrar. Such registrars, and in Boston the city registrar, shall be sworn and the provisions of this chapter …

Section 23. The town clerk shall give written notice of the requirements of this chapter to any person neglecting to comply therewith, and upon the continuance of such neglect for one month shall notify the agent or attorney duly appointed by the town to sue in its corporate capa…

Section 24. In any statement of births or deaths printed by a town the name of a child born out of wedlock or of its parents shall not be printed, but the words ''child born out of wedlock'' shall be used in place thereof. A town violating this section shall forfeit to the mother…

Section 25. All fines and forfeitures recovered under this chapter shall, except as provided in sections twenty-four and twenty-seven, accrue to the benefit of the town where the required return should have been made.

Section 26. The town clerk shall receive the following fees from the town upon presenting to the town treasurer a certificate of the receipt of the prescribed copies by the commissioner of public health: For each birth, marriage or death, one dollar. He shall also receive from th…

Section 27. A city or town clerk or registrar refusing or neglecting to perform any duty required of him under this chapter shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty nor more than one hundred dollars. Fines recovered for violation of section eighteen shall be to the use…

Section 28. An oath required by this chapter may be administered by the clerk, assistant clerk or registrar of a town.

Section 29. Town clerks or registrars shall attest their copies of the record of births, marriages or deaths with the official seal of the town.

Section 2A. Examination of records and returns of children born out of wedlock or abnormal sex births, or fetal deaths, or of the notices of intention of marriage and marriage records in cases where a physician's certificate has been filed under the provisions of section twenty A…

Section 2B. Upon written application, which shall include proof of identity and payment of applicable fees, by an adopted person 18 years of age or older who was born in the commonwealth or by an adoptive parent of an adopted person under 18 years of age and born in the commonwea…

Section 2C. If an adopted person is deceased, his child, if 18 years or older, or such child's parent or guardian if such child is less than 18 years of age, shall be eligible to apply for the information his adopted parent would have access to under section 2B and to participate…

Section 3. Every physician or hospital medical officer shall keep a record of birth of every child of which he is in charge showing the information required by section one, to be recorded in the records of birth. If a birth occurs in a hospital, or if a birth occurs elsewhere and…

Section 30. Whoever falsely makes, alters, forges or counterfeits, or procures or assists another to falsely make, forge or counterfeit, a copy of a record of birth, marriage or death, or whoever forges or without authority uses the signature, facsimile of the signature, or valid…

Section 31. The registry of vital records and statistics, subject to appropriation, shall establish and maintain an adoption contact information registry for the purpose of connecting parents listed on the initial birth certificate to any of their children who were adopted by oth…

Section 32. When a clerk at the registry or a town clerk has reasonable cause to believe that a vital record may have been falsely made, altered, forged, counterfeited or procured through fraud or misrepresentation or improper use of the signature or facsimile of the signature or…

Section 33. The state registrar shall establish, maintain and operate a centralized, automated database for the system of vital records and statistics, subject to appropriation. The state registrar shall make such automated database available to town clerks who shall use it to (i…

Section 34. The state registrar may enter into agreements with state and federal agencies administering public health and welfare programs, registrars of motor vehicles, passport agencies or the National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems to verify t…

Section 3A. The administrator or person in charge of a hospital shall be required to obtain, within twenty-four hours after a birth occurring therein or the admittance thereto of a mother and child for post-natal care, the report required by section three. If the hospital in whic…

Section 3B. Every physician, certified nurse-midwife or licensed certified professional midwife attending a birth after which the mother and child are not admitted to a hospital for postnatal care immediately after birth shall, within ten days after such birth, file with the cler…

Section 3C. Prior to obtaining the report required by section three, if a birth is of a child whose mother was unmarried at the time of birth or conception, the administrator or person in charge of a hospital or similar institution in which such birth occurs, or his agent, shall:…

Section 3D. The state registrar shall accept for filing acknowledgments of paternity obtained by the hospital administrator and the city and town clerk pursuant to this chapter and adjudications of paternity entered by the court pursuant to chapter 209C and shall upon request mak…

Section 4. The mother of a child who was born without a physician or hospital medical officer in attendance shall, within thirty days after the birth of such child, file a report of such birth, signed and sworn to by her, setting forth the facts required for a record as provided …

Section 4A. Each town clerk upon receipt of the return of a birth in his town shall determine that it is filled out in accordance with the requirements of this chapter and if he shall record it as required by section one. If there are any deficiencies or omissions therein, he sha…

Section 6. Parents, within forty days after the birth of a child, and every householder, within forty days after a birth in his house, shall cause notice thereof to be given to the clerk of the town where such child is born. The commissioner of children and families, within forty…

Section 7. The master or other commanding officer of a vessel shall give notice, with the facts required for record, of every birth or death occurring among the persons under his charge. The notice of a birth shall be given to the clerk, and the notice of a death shall be given t…

Section 7A. The captain or other commanding officer of an airplane shall give notice, with the facts required for record, of every birth occurring among the persons under his charge. Said notice shall be given to the clerk of the town at which his airplane first arrives after suc…

Section 8. A parent, keeper, superintendent or other person required by section six to give or cause to be given notice of a birth or death, neglecting so to do for ten days after the time limited therefor, and the master or commanding officer of a vessel neglecting so to do for …

Section 9. A physician, after the death of a person whom he has attended during such person's last illness, or the physician declaring such person dead, or the medical examiner, as provided for in section six of chapter thirty-eight, or, if the death occurred in a hospital, a hos…

Section 9B. A physician or officer neglecting or refusing to furnish a certificate as provided in section nine or making a false statement therein, shall forfeit not more than fifty dollars.

Section 1. Any town may erect or provide and maintain an infirmary for persons in need. No town shall erect or maintain an infirmary wholly or in part within the limits of any other town without its consent.

Section 10. Persons able to pay for infirmary care may be received and cared for in an infirmary at a rate fixed by the board of directors thereof.

Section 11. No child shall be detained in an infirmary for more than sixty days unless his physical condition is such as to make such action necessary or desirable or unless he is under three years of age and his mother is a suitable person to aid in taking care of him and is an …

Section 2. Any town which has an infirmary may annually choose three, five, seven or more directors to have the management thereof, who may appoint a superintendent and assistants. If such directors are not chosen, the selectmen shall be the directors.