Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
I find the old adage, “put your money where your mouth is” more than a little bit funny. Just think for a moment and laugh with me…
Thinking…
Thinking…
Heidi Fleiss…
Thinking…
This morning, Chris and I took the first legal step in changing our names. For those of you who are thinking of taking on a new last name of your own, here’s the deal (at least for California):
1. You have to fill out five forms in triplicate and submit them to the Superior Court.
2. You have to write a check for $370.
3. You have to stand and wait for those forms to be filed while listening to the world’s most obnoxious woman argue over a small claims case in a voice that rivals that of the Giant from Jack in the Beanstalk. *
4. You have to repeat steps one through three for your spouse. Yep, that means you’ve just written checks totaling $740.
5. You have to walk down the street, past a selection of unsavory characters asking you for money… which you now don’t have because you’ve given it all to the City of San Francisco.
6. You walk up the stairs to the office of The Recorder, the cheapest local law journal in the City, where you file your public Change of Name forms for $49.75 each.
7. Eight weeks later, you show up at the Superior Court for a hearing that lasts approximately five minutes. Your chosen name cannot carry fraudulent intent and cannot interfere with the rights of others (ie: I cannot name myself Britney Spears unless I have a really good reason for it- which frankly, I’d love to hear if you’ve got one…)
8. You go through the process of changing your name on everything that defines you: your social security card, your driver’s license, your bank accounts, your credit cards, your gym membership, and so on. You can also change your name on your birth certificate (or gender- but that’s another story for another time.)
9. Two and half months and more than eight hundred dollars later, you’re the proud owner of a name that you’d better damn well like.
To those of you who are thinking of doing what we’ve done, a word of advice: have one person change his/her name before you file for a marriage license. This will cut the cost in half once you’ve signed on the dotted line. We didn’t go this route because we spent over three months trying to decide on the perfect last name…
*this may not happen to you. I hope.
Tags: #forddrive, changing your name, last name changes california
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Ahhh, this is all sounding so familiar. It was a pain to get Corde’s last name simplified, but so worth it. I do say that sitting in court waiting for your turn, you do hear quite a few interesting name change requests from your fellow citizens.
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! I don’t have anything else to say, because I am laughing so hard! hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Dayum! Why do they charge so much to change your name? I had no idea they do that.
Yes but when step nine is complete maybe THEN you’ll feel really married!
(referring to yor previous entry)
Wow….I guess Oregon is a bit easier, we filed the name change as part of the marriage. BTW, marriage became a legal excuse for men to change their name in Jan of 2007 I believe. Up until then marriage was only a valid reason for a female to change her name.
PS.
Don’t forget to change your passport, that is a great one, they make you buy a whole new passport unless your passport is less than a year old.
Just fyi, this is a really well-documented description of this process. And a solid piece of advice on the back-end.
Thanks Will- I take that as a huge compliment, given that you are a lawyer…
BTW, Alan- the reason it was easy for you is because you took her last name- Chris and I chose an entirely new last name. If Chris had taken my last name, it would have been a piece of cake.