Is it illegal to be listed as a child on a death certificate if you are not actually a child

Question

The person that died considered me her daughter. I told the funeral home director I was basically her daughter for the last 17 years but she never had children and legally was not her daughter. I was her POA. And he listed me as her daughter on the death certificate and now her niece in Oregon is threatening to charge me with a felony.

David A. Cincotta · Answer

First, her niece cannot charge you.  She can request authorities in Oklahoma to investigate whether a crime was committed, and it would up to the local district attorney or the Attorney General of the State of Oklahoma, if they believe a crime has been committed, to file charges.   
 
It is a felony in Oklahoma to "[m]ake a false statement or knowingly conceal a material fact or otherwise commit fraud in an application for a birth, death or stillbirth certificate..."  I do not believe this is applicable to someone who provides information to a funeral director in preparing a death certificate, because it uses the phrase "application for" and the statutes elsewhere reference the funeral director filing the death certificate. Therefore, this more likely applies to individuals applying for a copy of a death certificate. However, even it it were to apply to information supplied to a funeral director for purposes of the filing of a death certificate, it would not be applicable because the information you provided was not misleading. The funeral director must have either presumed you were her daughter (meaning he did not understand what you were saying about being "basically her daughter") or included you as her daughter after you informed the funeral director you were not.    
 
Additionally, Oklahoma law permits a death certificate to be amended "[i]f within sixty (60) days of the initial issuance of a certificate of death, a funeral director, or a person acting as such, requests a correction to any portion of the death record except the information relating to the medical certification portion, due to a scrivener's error, misspelling or other correction of information, the Commissioner of Health, through the State Registrar of Vital Statistics, shall amend the record, provided said request is made in writing or through an electronic system and is accompanied by documentation disclosing the correct information or by a sworn statement of the funeral director." This might be something you (if you wanted to try to help with) or her niece could request the funeral director to do to get this cleared up and avoid any unnecessary drama.   
 
I hope this helps.

Q: Is it illegal to be listed as a child on a death certificate if you are not actually a child