Ordering copies of birth, death, marriage and civil partnership certificates.
Charges from 1st April 2024 - Certificates cost £15.00 each (plus £3.00 UK Postage or £6.00 Overseas Postage)
Duplicate Certificates
Please contact your local registrar for more information
Duplicate Adoption Certificate
Adoption Certificates for adoptions that have taken place in Scotland, cannot be issued by the local Registrar. Duplicate adoption certificates can be ordered through National Records of Scotland. To request a copy of your adoption certificate please complete the and email to:
Original Adoption Records
If you were adopted in Scotland, you can trace your original birth entry.
The Adoption Unit at New Register House can provide you with an extract of your original entry if you were born in Scotland. Email or write to the Adoption Unit providing details of your adoptive name, date of birth and your full postal address. You will be sent a declaration form to complete.
Write to:
The National Records of Scotland Adoption Unit
Room 3
General Register House
2 Princes Street
Edinburgh
EH1 3YY
E-mail adoptions@nrscotland.gov.uk
What might be revealed?
- further information about place and time of birth
- the original name under which you were registered
- your mother's name and surname and possibly occupation
- your father's name, if recorded, and
- the name and possibly the relationship of the person who registered the birth.
This information may also give you a lead into Adoption records or Adoption Agency records. You will also be told the location of your Court records.
You have a statutory right to counselling services under the Adoption (Scotland) Act 1978
More information on adoption records can be found on the .
Book of Scottish Connections
What is the Book of Scottish Connections (BSC)?
The BSC is a public record that allows people all over the world, with a Scottish connection, to apply for a birth, death, marriage or civil partnership abroad to be recorded in the BSC held by the Registrar General in Edinburgh (provided that the event has already been registered with the civil registration authorities of the country in question). A commemorative certificate of the event (and the Scottish connection) will then be available from the registration service in Scotland, to be preserved as a part of the family history record.
Contact points for further information:
Please write, phone or visit us at New Register House.
You may contact our Book of Scottish Connections section:
National Records of Scotland
Book of Scottish Connections Section
Room 38
New Register House
3 West Register Street
Edinburgh
EH1 3YT
Email: BSC@nrscotland.gov.uk