Mel’s first attempt to get a name change is a bust (user error)
Hi! I’m Mel, one of the MTPC staffers who went to the Middlesex probate court yesterday afternoon to change our legal names. (We live tweeted with the tag #MassIDdocs, so check that out if you missed it.)
To prepare for this epic staff outing, I had to gather some documents. For most people, this would just be a certified birth certificate, a name change form, and payment (money order or check at the courthouse we went to). But my case was a bit more complicates.
I’m married, so I also needed my marriage certificate AND a notarized letter from my spouse saying he is aware that I’m changing my name.
To make matters more difficult, my spouse and I had both hyphenated our last names when we got married (no legal name change required). A few years later, we went to court in Tennessee (and had to testify in front of a judge!) to change it to one name without the hyphen (and it’s still only eight letters!). So, I also had to bring my previous name change document with me yesterday.
To recap, instead of just the certified birth certificate, name change form, and payment, I had to bring all these things:
certified birth certificate
official name change form
official marriage certificate
notarized letter from spouse
previous name change document
Guess which one I forgot? The only one that is ALWAYS required! Somehow, in all my triple checking that I had everything, I ended up putting my birth certificate back in the safe instead of clipping it to all the other documents. Oops.
So, now I have to try again. But I’m going to take the opportunity to try out a different courthouse this time, to see if the procedure is any different. Devyn’s experience at the Middlesex courthouse felt very different from Jesse’s at the Suffolk one, which they'll blog about soon. Mine will give us three courthouses to compare. And Ryan plans to do a name change in October, which will give us a fourth. If you have stories of your own experience, email us at [email protected] to let us know which courthouse you went to and what happened.
And wish me luck on my second name-change attempt!
