Title 18, Health

§ 5006. Vital event information published in town reports Town clerks or auditors may publish in the annual town report nonconfidential information and statistics concerning births, marriages, and deaths of residents during the preceding calendar year. Upon request, the State Reg…

§ 5007. Preservation of records A town clerk shall receive, number, and file for record certificates of marriages and burial-transit permits returned to the clerk. A town clerk shall permanently preserve at the office of the clerk birth and death certificates registered prior to …

§ 5008. Town clerk; recording and indexing procedures A town clerk shall file for record and index in volumes all marriage certificates and burial-transit permits received by the town. Each volume or series shall contain an alphabetical index. Civil marriage certificates shall be…

§ 5009. Certified copies to town of residence On the first day of each month, the town clerk shall make a certified copy of each original, corrected, or amended civil marriage certificate or amended civil union certificate filed in the clerk’s office during the preceding month, w…

§ 5010. Transmittal of marriage certificates The town clerk of each town shall each week transmit to the State Registrar copies, duly certified, of each marriage certificate filed in the town in the preceding week. (Amended 1969, No. 265 (Adj. Sess.), § 7; 1979, No. 142 (Adj. Ses…

§ 5011. Penalty (a) A town clerk who fails to transmit copies of marriage certificates as provided in section 5010 of this title shall be fined not more than $100.00. (b) The Commissioner or a hearing officer designated by the Commissioner may, after notice and an opportunity for…

§ 5012. Town clerk to provide general index; marriages and civil unions Except as provided by 24 V.S.A. § 1153, town and county clerks shall prepare and keep a general index to the marriage and civil union records, in alphabetical order and in the following forms, respectively: (…

§ 5014. Confidentiality (a)(1) A vital record, or information in a vital record, that by law is designated confidential or by a similar term, that by law may only be disclosed to specifically designated persons, or that by law is not a public record, is exempt from inspection and…

§ 5016. Birth and death certificates; copies; inspection (a) Access and issuance generally. (1) Except as provided in subdivisions (2) and (3) of this subsection: (A) only the State Registrar and issuing agents may issue certified copies of birth and death certificates registered…

§ 5017. Fees for copies (a) For a certified copy of a vital event certificate, the fee shall be $10.00. (b) The State Registrar shall waive the fee for certified copies of vital event certificates issued to: (1) an individual attesting to a lack of fixed, regular, and adequate ni…

§ 5071. Birth certificates; who to make; return (a) On or before the fifth business day of each live birth that occurs in this State, the attending physician or designee, naturopathic physician or designee, or midwife or, if no attending physician or designee, naturopathic physic…

§ 5072. Notice to parent for correction or completion Within three months after each birth that occurs in the State, except for the birth of a child known to have died or to have been surrendered for adoption, the State Registrar shall send a notice of birth registration to the p…

§ 5073. Birth certificate corrections, completions (a)(1) Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (2) of this subsection, within six months after the date of birth, the State Registrar may correct or complete a birth certificate in the Statewide Registration System upon appli…

§ 5074. Penalty A person who fails to comply with a provision of sections 5071-5073 of this title shall be fined $5.00.

§ 5075. Issuance of amended or delayed birth certificate (a) Except as otherwise provided in subdivision 5073(a)(2) of this title, after six months from the date of birth, any alteration of the birth certificate of a person born in this State shall be deemed an amendment. Upon ap…

§ 5077a. New birth certificate due to parentage nomenclature on former report of birth form (a) If a parent of a person born in this State was unable to be listed as a parent on the person’s birth certificate due to the lack of gender-neutral nomenclature on former report of birt…

§ 5078. Adoption; new and amended birth certificate (a) When the State Registrar receives a report of adoption, a report of an amended adoption, or a report that an adoption has been set aside as provided in 15A V.S.A. § 3-801, or a record of adoption prepared and filed in accord…

§ 5078a. Certificate of live birth for a foreign born child adopted in Vermont (a) The State Registrar shall establish in the Statewide Registration System a “certificate of live birth for a foreign born child” when he or she receives: (1) a written request that the certificate b…

§ 5080. Effect of new certificate A new birth certificate issued under 15A V.S.A. § 3-802 and sections 5077a and 5112 of this title shall have the same force and effect as though registered in accordance with the provisions of section 5071 of this title. (Amended 2017, No. 46, § …

§ 5083. Participants in address confidentiality program (a) If a participant in the program described in 15 V.S.A. chapter 21, subchapter 3 who is the parent of a child born during the period of program participation notifies the physician or midwife who delivers the child, or th…

§ 5112. Issuance of new birth certificate (a) It is the policy of the State of Vermont to honor and acknowledge all gender identities and protect public health and dignity of all individuals in Vermont, irrespective of their gender. Accordingly, the State shall adopt a simple pro…

§ 5131. Issuance of civil marriage license; solemnization; return of civil marriage certificate; registration (a)(1) Upon receipt of a completed application in a form prescribed by the State Registrar, which shall require both parties to sign the application certifying to the acc…

§ 5132. Civil marriage license; participants in address confidentiality program (a) If a participant in the program described in 15 V.S.A. chapter 21, subchapter 3 notifies the town that the participant’s confidential address should not appear on the civil marriage license or cer…

§ 5137. Issuance of license (a) A town clerk shall issue a civil marriage license to all applicants who have complied with the provisions of section 5131 of this title and who are otherwise qualified under the laws of the State to apply for a license to marry and to contract for …

§ 5139. Clerk’s duties; penalty (a) A town clerk who knowingly issues a civil marriage license without first requiring the applicant to fill out, sign, and certify the accuracy of the application, as provided in section 5131 of this title, shall be fined not more than $50.00 nor …

§ 5140. Penalty for misrepresentation A person making application to a clerk for a license to marry who makes a material misrepresentation in filling the forms contained in the declaration of intention shall be deemed guilty of perjury and punished accordingly.

§ 5141. Confirmation of legal qualifications of parties; penalty (a) At a minimum, before issuing a civil marriage license to an applicant, the town clerk shall review the license application to confirm that: (1) the information submitted in the license application does not facia…

§ 5142. Persons not authorized to marry The following persons are not authorized to marry, and a town clerk shall not knowingly issue a civil marriage license, when: (1) either party is under 18 years of age; (2) either party lacks capacity to understand the nature of the conduct…

§ 5144. Persons authorized to solemnize marriage (a) Marriages may be solemnized by: (1) a Supreme Court Justice, a Superior judge, a judge of Probate, an assistant judge, a justice of the peace, a magistrate, a Judicial Bureau hearing officer, or an individual who has registered…

§ 5144a. Temporary officiant for marriages (a) By registering with the Secretary of State, an individual may temporarily be authorized to solemnize a marriage in this State. When registering, the individual shall provide: (1) A completed registration form provided by the Secretar…

§ 5145. Civil marriage license required for solemnization Persons authorized by section 5144 of this title to solemnize marriage shall require a civil marriage license of the parties, before solemnizing such marriage. The license shall afford full immunity to the person who solem…

§ 5146. Penalty for solemnization without license or failure to return A person who solemnizes a marriage without first obtaining of the parties the license required by law, or who fails to properly fill out the form thereon provided for his or her use and return the license and …

§ 5147. Solemnization by unauthorized person; penalty; validity of marriage (a) An individual who, knowing that he or she is not authorized so to do, undertakes to join others in marriage, shall be imprisoned not more than six months or fined not more than $300.00 nor less than $…

§ 5148. Evidence of marriage A copy of the record of the civil marriage made by a person required by law at the time the marriage was solemnized to make and keep the record certified by such person, or by the town or county clerk or the State Registrar or the State Archivist, if …

§ 5150. Correction of civil marriage certificate (a) Within six months after a marriage is solemnized, the town clerk may correct or complete a civil marriage certificate upon application by a party to the marriage or by the person who solemnized the marriage. The town clerk may …

§ 5151. Delayed certificates of civil marriage (a) A couple married in this State for whom no certificate of civil marriage was filed as required by law, may petition the Probate Division of the Superior Court of the district in which the civil marriage license was obtained to de…

§ 5166. Certification by unauthorized person; penalty; validity of civil unions (a) An unauthorized person who knowingly undertakes to join others in a civil union shall be imprisoned not more than six months or fined not more than $300.00 nor less than $100.00, or both. (b) A ci…

§ 5167. Evidence of civil union A copy of the record of the civil union received from the town or county clerk, the Commissioner of Health, or the State Archivist shall be presumptive evidence of the civil union in all courts. (Added 1999, No. 91 (Adj. Sess.), § 5; amended 2007, …

§ 5168. Correction of civil union certificate (a) Within six months after a civil union is certified, the town clerk may correct or complete a civil union certificate, upon application by a party to a civil union or by the person who certified the civil union. The town clerk shal…

§ 5169. Delayed certificates of civil union (a) Persons who were parties to a certified civil union ceremony in this State for whom no certificate of civil union was filed as required by law may petition the Probate Division of the Superior Court of the district in which the civi…

§ 5200. Definitions As used in this chapter: (1) “Cemetery” has the same meaning as in section 5302 of this title. (2) “Cremation” has the same meaning as in section 5302 of this title. (3) “Disposition facility” has the same meaning as in section 5302 of this title. (4) “License…

§ 5201. Permits; removal of bodies; waiting period; investigation into circumstances of death (a) A dead body shall not be buried, entombed, or removed, or otherwise disposed of without a burial-transit permit issued and signed by a municipal clerk, a county clerk, or a deputy cl…

§ 5202. Report of death; death certificate; duties of licensed health care professional (a)(1) Within 24 hours after a death, the licensed health care professional who last attended a deceased person shall submit the medical portion of a report of death in a manner prescribed by …

§ 5202a. Correction, completion, or amendment of death certificate (a) Corrections; completions. Within six months after the date of death, the State Registrar may correct or complete a death certificate upon application by the certifying licensed health care professional, medica…

§ 5205. Death certificate when no attending physician and in other circumstances; autopsy (a) When a person dies from violence, or suddenly when in apparent good health or when unattended by a physician or a recognized practitioner of a well-established church, or by casualty, or…

§ 5206. Penalty for failure to submit report of death A licensed health care professional who fails to cause the medical portion of a report of death to be submitted within 24 hours after the death of a person, containing a true statement of the cause of such death, so far as the…