Vital Statistics Act
Arkansas · Public Health and Welfare · §§ 20-18-101 to 20-18-705 · 37 sections
Overview
The Vital Statistics Act governs the official recording of life events — births, deaths, fetal deaths, adoptions, paternity determinations, and terminations of pregnancy — and creates a centralized vital statistics program headed by a state registrar, supported by local and deputy registrars and implemented through administrative regulations. It requires the timely filing of birth and death certificates, specifies who must report and what each record must contain, and provides procedures for delayed, amended, presumptive, and newly established certificates, including sealing original records after adoption or a change in parentage. It also regulates conduct that depends on those records, such as authorizing burial, cremation, disinterment, and the disposition of unclaimed or fetal remains, and directs that certain reported data be compiled into public statistical reports.
Editorial summary generated from the text of this act. It is not part of the statute — read the sections below for the operative language.
In the courts
Sections of this act have been cited in 33 court decisions.
Most-cited authority: 348 Ark. 322 - Linder v. Linder
Sections covered
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-101Title1 cite
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-102Definitions1 cite
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-103Applicability
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-104[Repealed.]
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-105Penalties1 cite
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-201Division of Vital Records
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-202Regulatory powers of the State Board of Health1 cite
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-203State Registrar of Vital Records
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-301Content of certificates and reports
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-302Persons required to keep records1 cite
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-303Duty to furnish information1 cite
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-304Disclosure of information prohibited — Exceptions1 cite
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-305Issuance of certified copies and data from system of vital statistics
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-306Fees for certified copies
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-307Amendment of vital records and reports4 cites
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-308Reproductions of records and files
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-401Birth registration generally7 cites
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-402Delayed registration of birth
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-403Judicial procedure to register birth
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-404Infants of unknown parentage
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-405[Repealed.]
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-406New certificates2 cites
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-407Social Security account information of parents
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-408Notice to parents regarding affidavits of paternity2 cites
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-409Disclosure of affidavits
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-410Certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth — Definitions
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-501Marriage registration
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-502Divorce or annulment registration
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-601Registration generally
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-602Delayed registration
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-603Registration of termination of pregnancy2 cites
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-604Final disposition of dead body or fetus1 cite
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-701Definitions5 cites
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-702Creation3 cites
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-703Revocation of information
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-704Furnishing of information
- Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-705Penalty
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