[Guozun Law Firm] Does It Matter If the Date of Birth on the Household Registration Booklet Is Wrong?

Does it matter if the date of birth on the household registration booklet is wrong? This question seems simple, but in fact involves many legal rights and interests. According to Article 16 of the Civil Code and the relevant provisions of the Household Registration Regulations, a citizen’s time of birth shall be based on household registration. This means that an erroneous registration may produce chain reactions. The author once acted in a typical case: in 2022, because of a real estate inheritance dispute in Beijing, Li discovered that the date of birth registered for his grandmother in the household registration booklet was one and a half years earlier than the actual date, which directly affected the determination of the scope of statutory heirs.

Specifically, an incorrect date of birth may bring problems at four levels: 1. there may be deviation in the determination of retirement age involving labor relations; 2. when handling financial business such as bank loans, the application may be rejected because identity information does not match; 3. in foreign-related marriage registration, it is easy to trigger disputes over the duration of nationality; 4. especially in inheritance cases, it may change the order of statutory succession. A senior executive of a company in Shanghai was forced to delay retirement procedures because the age in the household registration booklet was two years younger than the actual age.

In practical operation, it is usually considered that there are three situations for handling: 1. obvious clerical errors may be directly corrected upon application with the original birth certificate; 2. errors caused by historical reasons require the provision of supporting materials; 3. deliberate tampering for a specific purpose will result in administrative punishment. It is recommended that the person concerned preserve original vouchers such as hospital birth records and vaccination certificates. The author especially reminds that these materials can often become key evidence in litigation.

Extended question for consideration: when the date of birth in the household registration booklet is inconsistent with that recorded on the identity card, which document should prevail? This involves the issue of coordination between our country’s household registration management system and identity card system.