Health, Department of

Vital Records Services

Effective Date: 07/02/1997 to 04/21/2008

Rule Type: Superceded Rules & Regulations

Reference Number: 048.0059.1.07021997

CHAPTER 1

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Section 1. Authority. The State Registrar of Vital Records, pursuant to W.S. 35-1-404(a) of the Vital Records Act is authorized to promulgate rules and regulations for carrying out the purpose of the act. (W.S. 35-1-401 to 35-1-431).

Section 2. Definitions.

(a) 'Attendant at birth' means the person who assists the mother in giving birth.

(b) 'Certificate' means a form provided by Vital Records Services for the registration of a birth, death, stillbirth, marriage, divorce or foreign-born adoption.

(c) 'Certified copy' means any reproduction of a vital record bearing the seal of Vital Records Services and the signature of the State Registrar or that of his designated representative, or the authorized facsimile thereof.

(d) 'Certifier' means the person who signs the birth certificate attesting to the time, date, and place of the birth or the person who signs the death certificate attesting to the time, date, place, and cause of death.

(e) 'Court of competent jurisdiction' means a Wyoming district court, a court of comparable jurisdiction in another state, or a federal court.

(f) 'Dead body' means a lifeless human body, or such severed parts of the human body, or the bones thereof, from the state of which it reasonably may be concluded that death occurred.

(g) 'Delayed certificate' means a certificate of a birth, death or marriage registered one year or more after the date of the occurrence, which is prepared and filed by the State Registrar.

(h) 'Deputy local registrar' means the person appointed by the State Registrar to perform the duties of the local registrar in the absence or incapacity of the local registrar.

(i) 'Documentary evidence' means an original, official, or legal paper which is used to furnish proof for correcting a certificate or for establishing a delayed certificate. It includes, but is not limited to census, hospital, and school records.

(j) 'Filing' means the presentation of a certificate, of a birth, death, stillbirth, marriage, or divorce for registration by Vital Records Services.

(k) 'Final disposition' means the burial, interment, cremation, or other disposition of a dead body or stillbirth.

(l) 'Form' means any document with blanks for the insertion of details or information, supplied or approved by Vital Records Services for use in the vital records system.

1. (m) 'Foundling' means a living child of unknown parentage.
2. (n) 'Health care facility' means any establishment, public or private, which provides in-patient or out-patient medical care.
3. (o) 'Immediate family' means the mother, father, child or spouse of the deceased person.
4. (p) 'Informant' means the person supplying the personal information regarding the registrant required by a birth or death certificate.
5. (q) 'Legal age' means the statutory age of majority.
6. (r) 'Legal parents' means those parents recognized as such under law.
7. (s) 'Live birth' means the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a fetus which, after such expulsion or extraction, breathes or shows any other evidence of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, whether or not the umbilical cord has been cut or the placenta is attached.
8. (t) 'Local registrar' means the person appointed by the State Registrar to promote and supervise vital registration in his assigned registration district.
9. (u) 'Natural father' means the biological father.
10. (v) 'Natural parents' means the biological parents.
11. (w) 'Next of kin' means the surviving spouse of the decedent, or if there is no surviving spouse, the closest living relative.
12. (x) 'Personal particulars' means any of the following items required on a birth certificate: parent's state of birth, parent's date of birth, parent's age at the time of the child's birth, mother's residence.
13. (y) 'Physician' means a person authorized or licensed to practice medicine as provided by law.
14. (z) 'Registrant' means the person to whom the certificate pertains.
15. (aa) 'Registration' means the acceptance by Vital Records Services and the incorporation in its official records of certificates of births, deaths, stillbirths, marriages, and divorces.
16. (bb) 'Stillbirth' means a birth after twenty (20) completed weeks gestation in which the child shows no evidence of life after complete birth.
17. (cc) 'System of vital records' includes the registration, collection, preservation, amendment, and certification of vital records and activities related thereto including the tabulation, analysis, and publication of statistical data derived from such records.

(dd) “Vital records” means certificates of birth, death, stillbirth, marriage, and divorce; other forms used in the vital records system; and data relating thereto.

(ee) “Vital Records Services” means the state office established by the Department of Health to operate the system of vital records throughout the state.

Section 3. Official Forms. All forms and certificates used in the system of vital records are the property of Vital Records Services and shall be surrendered to the State Registrar of Vital Records upon request. Only those forms prescribed or approved and distributed by the State Registrar of Vital Records shall be used in the reporting of vital statistics. Such forms shall be used only for prescribed purposes.

Section 4. Requirements for Preparation of Certificates. All certificates and forms relating to vital records must either be prepared on a typewriter with a black ribbon or printed legibly in black, nonfading ink. All signatures required shall be entered in black, nonfading ink. Unless otherwise directed by the State Registrar, a certificate shall not be accepted for registration that:

(a) Does not supply all items of information called for or satisfactorily account for their omission; (b) Does not have the certifier’s name typed or printed legibly in the space provided; (c) Contains alterations or erasures; (d) Does not contain signatures as required; (e) Is a copy; (f) Is prepared on a form not prescribed or approved and distributed by the State Registrar; (g) Contains incorrect or inconsistent data; (h) Contains an indefinite cause of death.

Section 5. Effective Date. These rules shall become effective July 1, 1993.