Is there a legal limit to how
many certified Texas birth
certificate copies I can order?
Yes, there is a State of Texas legal limit on how many Texas birth certificates any person or company can request to order in their lifetime for any single Texas birth record file (birth certificate).
That legal number is ten birth certificates.
If you, another person, and/or a company have already ordered a certified copy of a birth certificate for a specific person or for yourself in the State of Texas you cumulatively as a group can only order in your life combined up to 10 Texas birth certificate copies on that one birth record.
Once you hit the ten birth certificates ordered limit the Texas Vital Records system will automatically flag it and mark it as an “abused birth record” and no person will ever be able to order more certified copies of that Texas birth certificate.
In the rare event that an abused birth record flagging happens when we rush file your birth certificate application form in person at the Texas Vital Records office, we (Birth Certificate Texas) will receive our full services fees that you agreed to pay us by signing our Texas birth certificate order form. There are no refunds as we state three different times on our rush birth certificate order form and several places on our website.
There are no refunds because you are only paying us (Birth Certificate Texas) to physically rush file your Texas birth certificate application form with Texas Vital Records not to obtain any records. It’s completely up to the State of Texas if they can find or if they will even issue a new certified birth certificate (s) to us on your behalf and when they will issue that record.
When the birth certificate copy you requested does get labeled as an “abused birth record” we will notify you by email that this has happened along with attaching the official state application form that we hand-filed on your behalf at the Texas Vital Records office.
Then the State of Texas will either mail you or us the three pages (shown above) of paperwork that you can fill out and mail back to them to formally petition the state and to plead your case about why you need another birth certificate copy issued to you when ten birth certificate copies have already been issued on it.
The Texas Vital Records office will also give you (Birth Certificate Texas) a little fortune cookie-size piece of paper that has their non-publicized status department email address and phone number on it for you to contact them with further questions and clarifications.
The email address and phone number for you to contact the state directly with questions about an abused birth record are below.
Email: vrstatus@dshs.texas.gov
Phone: 512-776-7111
(8am-4pm Mon-Fri)
Please make sure to find out if other Texas birth certificate copies have ever been ordered in the past by anyone in your family and how many were ordered on the Texas birth record that you are requesting certified copies of. When in doubt please only request to order with us 1-3 birth certificates at a time not a large amount like 5-10.
25 Tex. Admin. Code § 181.24 – Abused, Misused, or Flagged Records
Current through Reg. 47, No. 14; April 8, 2022
(a) Abused birth record.
(1) Any birth record that has had 10 certifications issued since the original date of filing shall be considered an abused record. Such a notation shall be made on the birth record.
(2) Local Registrars shall notify the Vital Statistics Unit of any abused record. Requests for additional certifications shall be made to the Vital Statistics Unit.
(b) Misused record.
(1) A misused record is any birth or death record that has been used by any person for any fraudulent or illegal purpose.
(2) Upon notification or determination that a record has been misused, the State Registrar shall attach a flag or notice to the record.
(c) Flagged record.
(1) A flagged record is any record with a notation that a request was received to not issue the record or to which an addendum, based on evidence of contradictory birth facts, has been attached. The registrant, minor registrant’s parent who is not excluded by law, or registrant’s guardian can request that no further copies of the record be released. After such request, the State Registrar may place a flag on the record.
(2) The Vital Statistics Unit will flag the record of any missing child who is under the age of eleven when notified by a law enforcement agency or the Missing Persons Clearinghouse.
(3) When a record has a notation, or addendum, the State and Local Registrar shall refuse to issue such a record until the conditions as stated on the notation, or addendum have been satisfied and the registrant or the requesting party has been notified.
(d) A hearing may be requested as provided in §181.21 of this title (relating to Refusal to Issue Certified Copies of Records of Birth, Death, or Fetal Death) to determine if flagged, abused, misused, or records with an addendum or notation should be issued.
