You’d be surprised at the implications of writing anything other than your legal name on a document. Using a nick-name, a middle name as a first name, using the last name of your step-parent or disregarding the fact that you’re a senior or junior will cause confusion that many times leads to a complete halt in the middle of a very important event. Many of the legal name changes we prepare in our office are done to untangle a mess caused by the negligent use of someone’s name. Most recently, a client of mine is having the receipt of his inheritance delayed because of the use of his name. Listed below are only a few of the other examples we’ve encountered when helping someone fix their name legally.
Example #1: On more than one occasion a client was unable to collect their social security benefit after retirement until they legally changed their name. The problem started when they were issued a social security number years before. The name on their application for a social security card didn’t match the name on their employment records.
Example #2: A client had to delay entrance into a military academy. A background search found that the name he had been using most of his life didn’t match his given name at the time of his adoption.
Example #3: On several occasions, an eager teen had to wait to get their name legally fixed before applying for their driver’s license because their name on the birth certificate didn’t match the name being used on school records and other important documents.
Frequently there are problems when someone is trying to have their signature notarized. The name they are signing must match their identifying document exactly, which is usually a driver’s license or DMV ID card. It’s ok if their signed name doesn’t include a middle name on the identifying document, but it cannot add anything that is not already on the identifying document. When the signature can’t be notarized, the person has to go back to the source to fix their records. I’ve seen people get their names convoluted on their immigration documents which caused problems later as they tried to manage other legal affairs.
Many of the people who come to us for legal name changes take a proactive approach. They change the name to match what they are using on documents, like school records to avoid problems later. A common example is when a mother gives her child the father’s name on the birth certificate, but never uses it later on any records because he disappeared. Other times a child has been using the name of the step-parent who has been raising the child and it is made legal without a formal adoption. Some people have always used another name, not a shortened name, not a middle name, just some other name they prefer, and want to make it legal.
Legal name changes are very common and can be done as long as the intent is not to defraud someone or cover something up as in the case of someone who is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections or is a registered sex offender. Also, you can’t take the name of a celebrity or other famous person and the name can’t be obscene.
So to avoid future problems, use your same name on all your legal documents and call us to help you with the process of fixing it if you haven’t.
