Mass. Gen. Laws » Part I Title VII Chapter 46

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 46, § 1

Certificates of birth, marriage, death and acknowledgments and adjudications of paternity; contents; residence defined

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[ Section effective until November 20, 2025. For text effective November 20, 2025, see below.]

  Section 1. Each town clerk shall receive or obtain and record the following facts, as well as such additional information that may be required under federal statutes or contracts, regulations promulgated pursuant to section 4 of chapter 17, or, as the commissioner of public health may require, relative to births, marriage, acknowledgments and adjudications of paternity and deaths which occurred in the town and for certificates of marriage issued by the town.

  In the record of births, name, date of birth, place of birth and sex of child; legal names, dates of birth, residences, places of birth and surname at birth or adoption of the parent or parents. In the record of birth of a child born to parents not married to each other, the name of and other facts relating to the other parent or parents shall not be recorded except as provided in section 2 of chapter 209C where parentage has been acknowledged or adjudicated under the laws of the commonwealth or under the law of any other jurisdiction.

  In the record of marriages, date of record, date and place of marriage, name, residence and official station of the person by whom solemnized; for each of the parties to be married the name, date and place of birth, residence, age, number of the marriage, as first or second, and if previously married, whether widowed or divorced, and the birth-given names of their parents.

  In the record of death, date of death, names of deceased, including birth surname for women, social security number, sex, race, marital status, education, name of spouse if ever married, supposed age, residence, occupation, place of death, place of birth, names and places of birth of the parents, birth surname of the mother, disease or cause of death, defined so that it can be classified under the international classification of causes of death, place and type of immediate disposition. The word "residence'', as used in this section, shall include the name of the street and number, if any, of the house.

Chapter 46: Section 1. Certificates of birth, marriage, death and acknowledgments and adjudications of paternity; contents

[ Text of section as amended by 2025, 68, Sec. 1 effective November 20, 2025. For text effective until November 20, 2025, see above. For text effective July 1, 2026, see below.]

  Section 1. Each local clerk shall obtain and record the following facts set forth in this section, as well as such additional information that may be required under federal statutes or contracts, regulations promulgated pursuant to section 4 of chapter 17 or as the commissioner of public health may require, relative to births, marriages, acknowledgments and adjudications of parentage and deaths which occurred in the town or city and for certificates of marriage issued by the town or city:

  In the record of births, name, date of birth, place of birth and sex of child; legal names, dates of birth, residences, places of birth and surname at birth or adoption of the parent or parents;

  In the record of birth of a child born to parents not married to each other, the name of and other facts relating to the other parent or parents shall not be recorded except as provided in section 2 of chapter 209C where parentage has been acknowledged or adjudicated under the laws of the commonwealth or under the laws of any other jurisdiction;

  In the record of marriages, date of record, date and place of marriage, name, residence and official station of the person by whom solemnized; for each of the parties to be married the name, date and place of birth, residence, age, number of the marriage and if previously married, whether widowed or divorced and the name at birth or adoption of the parties' parents;

[ Fifth paragraph effective until July 1, 2026. For text effective July 1, 2026, see below.]

  In the record of death, date of death, name of deceased, including surname at birth or adoption, social security number, gender, race, marital status, education, name of spouse if ever married, supposed age, residence, occupation, place of death, place of birth, surname at birth or adoption and places of birth of the deceased's parent or parents, disease or cause of death, defined so that it can be classified under the international classification of causes of death, and place and type of immediate disposition.

[ Fifth paragraph as amended by 2025, 69, Sec. 1 effective July 1, 2026. See 2025, 69, Sec. 2. For text effective until July 1, 2026, see above.]

  In the record of death, date of death, name of deceased, including surname at birth or adoption, social security number, gender, race, marital status, education, name of spouse if ever married, supposed age, residence, occupation, place of death, place of birth, surname at birth or adoption and places of birth of the deceased's parent or parents, disease or cause of death, defined so that it can be classified under the international classification of causes of death, and place and type of immediate disposition. As used in this section, the word "residence'' shall include the name of the street and number, if any, of the house. For purposes of this section, the social security number in a record of death shall not be made available except upon request from a person with a legitimate need, as defined in regulations promulgated pursuant to section 4 of chapter 17.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 11 cases, 1969–2019 · leading case: Secretary of the Commonwealth v. City Clerk of Lowell
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Secretary of the Commonwealth v. City Clerk of Lowell (1977) mass · cites it 10× “" G.L.c. 46, § 1. As to a birth in a hospital, the physician or hospital medical officer in charge is to keep a record and file a report with the administrator or person in charge of the hospital, and the latter is to make a copy, "on forms prepared and furnished by the…”
Culliton v. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (2001) mass · cites it 6× “We also conclude that, on the facts of this case, a judgment should enter declaring that the plaintiffs are the legal parents of the children, and ordering the hospital, through its reporters, to place the plaintiffs’ names on all “record[s] of birth” created pursuant to G. L.…”
Hodas v. Morin (2004) mass · cites it 4× “See G. L. c. 46, §§ 1, 3, 3A. On June 25, 2004, we transferred the matter here on our own motion.”
Draper v. Town Clerk of Greenfield (1981) mass · cites it 4× “The facts underlying this litigation (as set out in the parties’ statement of agreed facts) are as follows: On January 27,1978, the plaintiffs, three sets of unmarried parents with children born in Massachusetts between 1969 and 1977, sought declaratory and injunctive relief…”
Goodridge v. Department of Public Health (2003) mass “” G. L. c. 46, § 1. “The record of a marriage made and kept as provided by law by the person by whom the marriage was solemnized, or by the clerk or registrar, or a copy thereof duly certified, shall be prima facie evidence of such marriage.”
Bos. Globe Media Partners, LLC v. Dep't of Pub. Health (2019) mass “Town clerks must collect birth and marriage information, G. L. c. 46, § 1, and provide that information to the registry, G.”
Carey v. New Yorker of Worcester, Inc. (1969) mass “G. L. c. 46, § 1. The phraseology of the language admitting the records eliminates the preliminary issue of identity sought to be raised by the defendant.”
Globe Newspaper Co. v. Chief Medical Examiner (1989) mass “38, § 6, public records as it has done with respect to death certificates (G. L. c. 46, §§ 1, 9), but it chose to make them exemptions to the requirement of disclosure of public records in G.”
Commissioner of Social Services v. Zarnetski (2017) connappct “Specifically, pursuant to Mass. Gen. Laws c. 46, § 1 (2016), "[i]n the record of birth of a child born to parents not married to each other, the name of and other facts relating to the father shall not be recorded except as provided in section 2 of chapter 209C where paternity…”
Minh Tu v. Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, Union Central Life Insurance Company, John Alden Life Insurance Co (1998) ca1 “Under Massachusetts law, a town clerk must record deaths “in his town,” Mass. Gen. L. c. 46, § 1, and “may” file an out-of-state death certificate of a town domiciliary if satisfied of its sufficiency.”
Blake v. SOUTHCOAST HEALTH SYSTEM, INC. (2002) mad “”, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 46, § 1 (2002), and that such record of the town clerk relative to a .”
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