Every answer — page 8

An adoption creates an amended birth certificate and seals the original. Three separate files result, held by three different offices, each with its own access rule.

An apostille is a certificate that lets a foreign government trust the signature on a US document. State documents go to the state's competent authority and federal documents go to the Department of State.

Each identity document carries its own sex or gender field, controlled by a different office with its own evidence rules. There is no single national procedure and no single national standard.

The Social Security Administration keeps two separate records: your identifying information and your lifetime earnings. Each has its own correction process, and one of them has a deadline.

Court records are presumptively public, and the burden falls on whoever wants something withheld. Most protection comes from redacting specific data rather than closing an entire file.

Certified death certificates come from the state or county where the death occurred, and only certain relatives and representatives may order them. Most estates need far more copies than families expect.

The FBI compiles a criminal history summary from fingerprints submitted by other agencies. You can request your own copy, and errors are corrected through the agency that reported them.

A marriage record is held by the county that issued the license and often by the state registrar. A divorce decree is held by the court that granted it, which is a different office entirely.

A notary verifies who signed a document and that the signing was voluntary. Nothing in a notarial certificate says the document is true, lawful, or worth signing.

A birth certificate is held by the state where the birth happened, not by the federal government. That same state is the only office that can correct what the record says.

REAL ID is a federal standard that states apply at their own counters. It requires original or certified documents in four categories, and photocopies are rejected as a matter of rule.

Stake limits are usually a business decision an operator is allowed to make. A held withdrawal is different: it has to rest on a rule, and a regulator can be asked to test it.

A casino disagreement becomes a regulated dispute the moment you ask for a supervisor and the regulator is called. What happens in the first hour usually decides the outcome.

A charity raffle is a lottery that a state has agreed to permit. The permission is conditional, and the conditions cover who runs the game, who is paid, and where the money goes.