Tennessee birth certificate corrections often use PH-1186, whose Part III is the sworn affidavit. Some corrections need a court order or a different vital-records process instead.
Published and reviewed by iRemoteNotary
Last reviewed October 11, 2026
Tennessee uses PH-1186, Application to Amend A Tennessee Birth Record, for many correction requests. The form itself contains the sworn affidavit in Part III. If the correction qualifies for the affidavit pathway, the signer takes the oath and signs that Part III affidavit in front of the notary.
Some corrections instead require a court order or another Tennessee Vital Records process, so identify the correction type before notarizing. If Tennessee Vital Records confirms it will accept remote online notarization for the packet, iRemoteNotary can review the unsigned PH-1186 and help complete an eligible online jurat.
| Item | Verified detail |
|---|---|
| Current form | PH-1186, the form Tennessee's Applications page links as Application to Amend A Tennessee Birth Record |
| Where the affidavit is | Part III of PH-1186. It is sworn and must be signed in front of a notary public |
| Not every correction | Date of birth, given or middle name, and parent-information paths differ. Some matters use another process |
| Fees current as of October 11, 2026 | $15 to amend a certificate 6 months or more after the event. No amendment fee in the first 6 months, except a rescission. Birth-certificate copies are $15 for the first copy and $15 for each additional copy. Tennessee can change fees |
| Submission at this review | Tennessee says birth, death, marriage, and divorce corrections temporarily need to be mailed. That status can change |
| RON status | Florida online-notary authority and Tennessee Vital Records acceptance are separate. No express Tennessee RON acceptance statement was found |
Use the current Tennessee form and instructions unless Vital Records specifically asks for something additional. Do not draft a separate generic affidavit in place of Part III.
iRemoteNotary is a national and international online-notary organization. Remote online notarization is performed under the law of the online notary's commissioning state. Related routing stays on the Vital Records Notary Center.
PH-1186 itself contains a sworn affidavit and notarial certificate in Part III. For a qualifying affidavit-pathway correction, the signer does not start by drafting a separate affidavit and then attaching PH-1186 as a second document.
Part I records the information exactly as it is currently shown on the birth record. If the child's name does not appear, the form says to enter "Not shown" in the first item. Part II lists the item being corrected, the value currently listed, and the value that should appear. Part III is the sworn affidavit, the signer's relationship to the registrant, the signature, and the notarial block. Part IV gives amendment examples and supporting-document guidance. Part V lists suggested documentary evidence.
Use the current Tennessee form and instructions unless Vital Records specifically asks for something additional. Tennessee's amending page says it occasionally needs more information. That is not the same as telling every applicant to invent a second affidavit.
Send the unsigned current PH-1186 and Tennessee's instructions for review. Remote notarization is only appropriate if Tennessee Vital Records accepts it for the applicant's submission.
The printed notarial blocks are attached to the Part III affidavit. Part III states that the affidavit is made under oath, that it must be signed in front of a notary public, and that the signer states a relationship to the registrant. Each notarial block uses "sworn to and subscribed" wording.
The top of the form also has an applicant signature and a relationship line. Do not confuse that applicant signature with the Part III affidavit. This page does not say the top applicant signature never needs any separate treatment. Follow the current form. The notarial certificates printed on PH-1186 belong to Part III.
Part III is a sworn affidavit. The form uses oath language and "sworn to and subscribed" language. For practical notary guidance, this is jurat-style execution.
The signer should not sign the Part III affidavit ahead of the notarial session. An acknowledgment is different: an existing signature may sometimes be acknowledged. This page is a document-specific exception to the general idea that not every notarized document must remain unsigned.
Do not replace Tennessee's printed notarial wording. Do not invent another certificate when the official form already contains one.
Review the unsigned Part III before the session. Remote notarization still depends on Tennessee Vital Records accepting it for this submission.
Part III prints two signer and notary areas. That does not mean every correction automatically requires two signers. The second block accommodates a case in which more than one authorized signer is required.
A concrete example is a qualifying given or middle-name correction for a child under one year old. Tennessee says all parents listed on the birth certificate must sign the notarized affidavit. Do not infer other multi-signer requirements beyond Tennessee's instructions for the correction at hand.
Tennessee's affidavit help article says the affidavit submitted to the office must be signed by the registrant if they are over the age of 18, by a parent listed on the certificate if the registrant is under 18, or by the legal guardian, with a copy of the guardianship papers. The affidavit should include the name and date of the event, the incorrect data as listed, and the data as it should be listed.
PH-1186's own Part III instruction says the affidavit should be signed by the registrant, who must be at least 18 years of age, by a parent or parents listed on the birth record, or by a legal guardian who provides guardianship papers. If the registrant is exactly 18, follow the current form and confirm the signer with Tennessee Vital Records rather than treating the two wordings as identical.
Special pathways still control. For a qualifying given or middle-name correction when the child is under one year old and no court-order gate applies, all parents listed on the birth certificate must sign. Other corrections follow the instructions for that correction. Any parent cannot always sign.
Identify the correction before notarizing. An affidavit pathway and a court-order pathway are not interchangeable. Notarizing Part III does not convert a court-order matter into an affidavit correction.
| Correction | Typical pathway | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Date of birth, never previously amended | Notarized affidavit plus qualifying documentary evidence | Day, month, and year evidence-age rules differ |
| Given or middle name, qualifying correction | Affidavit route if no court-order gate applies | Under 1: all listed parents sign. Over 1: affidavit plus supporting evidence |
| Parent name, parent date of birth, or parent place of birth | Affidavit plus the parent's birth certificate when no court-order gate applies | Mother's current legal name uses separate guidance |
| Legal name change | Certified court-order route | The affidavit route does not replace a required court order |
| Complete last-name change | Court order or another process | PH-1186 says the ordinary form is not for a complete last-name change |
| Adding or removing a father | Different process | PH-1186 says not to use it for this |
| Adoption, paternity establishment, or other court-ordered change | Different process | Listed on the PH-1186 exclusion box |
| Delayed birth certificate | Different process | PH-1186 says not to use it to file a delayed certificate of birth |
If the date of birth has never been amended, Tennessee asks for a signed notarized affidavit showing the full name, the date of birth as shown, and the date of birth as it should be listed, plus documentary evidence and the applicable fees.
Day only: the supporting document must have been created before the 21st birthday. Month: the document should have been created before the 10th birthday, and Tennessee's date-of-birth article says that documentary evidence must be dated at least five years before the amendment request. Year: the same 10th-birthday and five-year points, plus a list of siblings' names and dates of birth.
Tennessee's general evidence article is separate. It says supporting evidence should generally be at least five years old, and sometimes older, unless a correction-specific rule states otherwise. If the child is under five, the document should have been created as close to the birth as possible. Use the correction-specific age rule and the general evidence rule together. Do not drop one because the other exists.
Current Tennessee guidance says documentary evidence should be the oldest document available. It must support the requested correction, show the date the document was created, and show the registrant's full name and date of birth or age. It must generally be at least five years old. If the amendment is for a child under five, it should have been created as close to the date of birth as possible.
Examples on the evidence page include a school record, a marriage certificate, a child's birth certificate, a parent's birth or death certificate, a Social Security Numident, and a federal census record. PH-1186 Part V also lists a medical record and a DD-214, and it says the document should be the closest available record after birth unless the form states otherwise.
Acceptability remains at Tennessee Vital Records' discretion. A listed example is not a promise that a particular document will be accepted.
Tennessee says a court order is needed for a name change on the birth certificate when a new birth certificate was created because of adoption or a court order of parentage, unless the amendment is needed because of a keying error made when creating the new certificate. A court order is also needed when the name has been amended previously, when a Voluntary Acknowledgement of Paternity has been signed, or when an Affidavit of Surname was signed at the time of birth. Changing the first and middle names entirely requires review by the office before proceeding.
If none of those circumstances apply and the child is less than one year old, Tennessee needs a notarized affidavit signed by all parents listed on the birth certificate, showing the full name, date of birth, the incorrect name, and the correct name, plus applicable fees. If the registrant is more than one year old and no court-order gate applies, add documentary evidence supporting the change. A court order is not the default for every given or middle-name correction.
Tennessee has an affidavit pathway for certain corrections to a parent's name misspelling, a parent's date of birth, or a parent's place or state of birth, when no specified court-order gate applies. The packet includes a signed notarized affidavit showing the full name, date of birth, the data as shown, and the data as it should be listed, plus a copy of the parent's birth certificate and the applicable fees.
A court order can apply when the same information was previously amended, when a new certificate followed an adoption and the request is not a keying-error correction, when a court-order parentage history affects the father's information, when a subsequent marriage created a new certificate and the request involves the father's information or the child's name, or when a Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity previously amended the certificate and the request involves the father's information or the child's name.
A change to the mother's current legal name requires separate Tennessee guidance. This page does not decide parentage.
A correction fixes inaccurate data on the birth record. A legal name change based on a court order follows Tennessee's court-order process.
For a court-ordered legal name change, Tennessee asks for an original certified copy of the court order that changed the name, plus the applicable amendment and copy fees. The affidavit route does not replace a required court order. Tennessee's court-order help article says to contact the court clerk's office in the county of residence for instructions on obtaining an order.
The current PH-1186 says the ordinary application should not be used for adding or removing a father, a complete change of last name for the registrant or the parents, court-ordered changes such as legal name changes, adoptions, and paternity establishment, or filing a delayed certificate of birth.
Those matters are not impossible. They use another Tennessee process. Do not force them onto PH-1186.
PH-1186 states: no white-out, cross outs, or erasures. If a form is already damaged, obtain a fresh current PH-1186 from Tennessee Vital Records rather than trying to repair the damaged copy.
Current as of October 11, 2026, Tennessee's Fees page lists $15 to amend a certificate six months or more after the date of the event. There is no fee for amending a record within the first six months after the event, except in the case of a rescission. A birth-certificate copy is $15 for the first copy and $15 for each additional copy.
PH-1186 still prints a $15 amendment fee and a $15 certified-copy fee without the six-month exception. Use the current Fees page for the amount to send. Tennessee can change fees. Confirm the fee page again before mailing.
At the time of this review, Tennessee's Amending a Certificate page says customers who need to correct a birth, death, marriage, or divorce certificate temporarily need to submit requests by mail. In-person help for Voluntary Acknowledgments of Paternity is described separately. Mail-only amendment submission is a temporary status. Do not treat mail as the only method forever.
The mailing address printed on the current PH-1186, and repeated on Tennessee's legal-name-change page, is Tennessee Vital Records, 1st Floor, Andrew Johnson Tower, 710 James Robertson Parkway, Nashville, TN 37243. Verify the address immediately before mailing.
Tennessee's current published estimate for birth, death, marriage, and divorce amendments is approximately two weeks, as of June 23, 2026. Tennessee warns that processing times can change because of request volume and workforce demands. That estimate is not a promise that a particular amendment will be completed in two weeks.
Include only the items that apply to the correction. Not every packet needs every item.
Two questions stay separate. The first is whether a Florida online notary can perform a sworn online notarial act. Florida Statutes sections 117.209 and 117.265 allow an online notary physically located in Florida to perform authorized online notarial functions, including an act that requires personal appearance, through compliant audio-video technology, when the statutory requirements are met. The principal may be elsewhere. A principal outside Florida confirms that the act is performed under Florida law. Identity proofing still has to succeed.
The second question is whether Tennessee Vital Records will accept a remotely or electronically notarized PH-1186 in this amendment process. The Tennessee sources reviewed for this page do not contain an express remote-online-notarization acceptance statement. Florida legal authority is not a claim that Tennessee Vital Records accepts the document. Confirm acceptance before booking.
The fact that Tennessee currently uses mail submission for amendment requests does not, by itself, answer whether an electronically notarized PH-1186 is accepted, whether a printed copy of an electronically notarized record is accepted, or whether another original-format requirement applies. Those are recipient-acceptance questions.
Start the session only after Tennessee Vital Records has confirmed that remote or electronic notarization fits this submission.
A Florida online notary physically located in Florida may perform an eligible online notarization for a principal located in another state or country, under Florida remote-online-notarization law. Tennessee Vital Records acceptance remains a separate question.
For a signer outside the United States, identity verification also applies. A foreign signer is not guaranteed to complete identity proofing. For scheduling, use WhatsApp at +1 (305) 608-4003: https://wa.me/13056084003?text=Hello%2C%20I%20need%20a%20Tennessee%20PH-1186%20birth-record%20amendment%20reviewed.%20The%20signer%20may%20be%20outside%20Tennessee.. See how remote online notarization works and international online notary.
The notary administers the oath or performs the notarial act, verifies identity under applicable law, and completes the notarial certificate. The notary does not decide amendment eligibility, decide whether evidence is sufficient, approve the correction, issue the corrected birth certificate, provide a court order, determine parentage, or guarantee Tennessee acceptance.
An apostille is not part of the ordinary Tennessee correction process. If a corrected certified record is later needed for use abroad, apostille is a separate downstream step. See online notarized document and apostille only after the corrected certificate exists. For a different state's amendment packet, Florida DH 430 and DH 433 is a separate guide.
This is a readiness list for review. It is not a live intake form. Do not send unnecessary vital-record images or unrelated identity documents.
For many corrections it is the sworn statement in Part III of PH-1186, Application to Amend A Tennessee Birth Record. It is not a separate generic affidavit unless Tennessee Vital Records specifically asks for something additional.
Use the current PH-1186 linked from Tennessee's Applications page when the correction belongs on that form. Do not use it for the exclusions printed on the form, including adding or removing a father, a complete last-name change, court-ordered changes, or a delayed certificate of birth.
No. Part III of PH-1186 is the sworn affidavit and notarial certificate. Use the current form unless Vital Records asks for additional documentation.
The printed notarial blocks are attached to the Part III affidavit. Do not confuse them with the applicant signature at the top of the form.
Part III is a sworn affidavit with oath language and a sworn-to-and-subscribed certificate. Treat it as jurat-style execution. Do not replace Tennessee's printed wording.
Do not sign the Part III affidavit before the notarial session. Part III says it must be signed in front of a notary public.
Tennessee's affidavit article lists the registrant if over 18, a parent listed on the certificate if the registrant is under 18, or a legal guardian with guardianship papers. PH-1186 says the registrant must be at least 18. A qualifying under-one-year given or middle-name correction requires all parents listed on the certificate. Any parent cannot always sign.
The second block is for a case that needs more than one authorized signer. It does not mean every correction needs two signers. An under-one-year given or middle-name correction is an example where all listed parents must sign.
If the date of birth was never amended: a day-only correction needs a document created before the 21st birthday. A month or year correction needs a document created before the 10th birthday and dated at least five years before the request. A year correction also needs siblings' names and dates of birth.
Tennessee looks for the oldest available document that supports the correction, shows when it was created, and shows the registrant's full name and age or date of birth. Examples include school, marriage, birth, death, Social Security Numident, census, medical, and DD-214 records. Acceptance is discretionary.
Sometimes, if none of Tennessee's court-order gates apply. Under one year, all parents listed on the certificate sign the affidavit. Over one year, add supporting evidence. A previous amendment, adoption or parentage certificate, Voluntary Acknowledgement of Paternity, Affidavit of Surname, or a complete first-and-middle-name change can take the request out of the ordinary affidavit path.
Certain misspellings and a parent's date or place of birth can use an affidavit plus the parent's birth certificate when no court-order gate applies. Mother's current legal name, and some father-information histories, use other guidance.
It depends on the correction. Legal name changes use a certified court order. Given or middle-name and parent-information articles list their own gates. A court order is not the default for every correction.
No. PH-1186 says not to use the ordinary application for court-ordered changes such as a legal name change. Tennessee asks for an original certified court order and the applicable fees.
As of October 11, 2026, the Fees page lists $15 to amend a certificate six months or more after the event, no amendment fee in the first six months except a rescission, and $15 for each birth-certificate copy. PH-1186 still prints a flat $15 statement. Use the Fees page, and expect Tennessee to change fees.
At this review, Tennessee says birth, death, marriage, and divorce corrections temporarily must be mailed. The address on PH-1186 is Tennessee Vital Records, 1st Floor, Andrew Johnson Tower, 710 James Robertson Parkway, Nashville, TN 37243. Confirm it before mailing.
Tennessee's published estimate as of June 23, 2026 is approximately two weeks for birth, death, marriage, and divorce amendments. The office says that estimate can change. It is not a completion guarantee.
A Florida online notary can perform an eligible sworn online act under Florida law. Tennessee Vital Records has no express remote-notarization acceptance statement in the sources reviewed here. Confirm acceptance before booking. Mail submission does not answer the electronic-notarization question.
The following primary sources support the legal and procedural information in this guide. Requirements can change, so confirm current rules with the receiving organization before relying on a notarized document.
Applications — Application to Amend A Tennessee Birth Record (PH-1186)(opens in a new tab)
Tennessee Department of Health / Vital Records
Accessed October 11, 2026
PH-1186 Application to Amend A Tennessee Birth Record(opens in a new tab)
Tennessee Department of Health / Vital Records
Accessed October 11, 2026
Tennessee Department of Health / Vital Records
Accessed October 11, 2026
Tennessee Department of Health / Vital Records
Accessed October 11, 2026
Tennessee Department of Health / Vital Records
Accessed October 11, 2026
What is a notarized affidavit? What should the affidavit include?(opens in a new tab)
Tennessee Department of Health / Vital Records
Accessed October 11, 2026
What is acceptable documentary evidence?(opens in a new tab)
Tennessee Department of Health / Vital Records
Accessed October 11, 2026
Tennessee Department of Health / Vital Records
Accessed October 11, 2026
Amending a Certificate(opens in a new tab)
Tennessee Department of Health / Vital Records
Accessed October 11, 2026
How long will it take?(opens in a new tab)
Tennessee Department of Health / Vital Records
Accessed October 11, 2026
My name was legally changed. How do I get it changed on my birth certificate?(opens in a new tab)
Tennessee Department of Health / Vital Records
Accessed October 11, 2026
How do I get a court order?(opens in a new tab)
Tennessee Department of Health / Vital Records
Accessed October 11, 2026
Florida Statutes section 117.209 (2026)(opens in a new tab)
Florida Legislature
Accessed October 11, 2026
Florida Statutes section 117.265 (2026)(opens in a new tab)
Florida Legislature
Accessed October 11, 2026
Send the current unsigned PH-1186, the correction type, and any Tennessee instructions. Remote notarization is only appropriate if Tennessee Vital Records accepts it for the applicant's submission.