Last Name Fraud?

[Kenkudaki]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Minnesota

I'll try to Cliff's Notes this as best I can:

-My ex-wife and I have been officially (finally?) divorced since last November.
-We have a 5-year-old daughter, who has my last name.
-Our official decree includes a name change for her, back to her maiden name (effective immediately?).
-She has been married twice before, and never even got around to changing her last name to mine, from her previous married name. According to the IRS, she still has her former married name. The only places where her name was changed to mine are on our marriage certificate and her driver's license.
-We were only married for two years. She has 4 other children, who have 3 additional separate last names.

So to summarize, her name was legally changed via the court and documented in our divorce decree. According to the federal government, her legal name is still that of her previous husband. Either way, there is nothing giving her claim to my last name any longer. To the state, she has her maiden name, and to the country she has her former married name. Now that our daughter is in school, she is registering in all systems by MY last name. I already know that this is inaccurate, but is it even legal? Shouldn't she be using one of her two REAL last names for official paperwork/registrations for the school system?

Thank you in advance!

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Minnesota

I'll try to Cliff's Notes this as best I can:

-My ex-wife and I have been officially (finally?) divorced since last November.
-We have a 5-year-old daughter, who has my last name.
-Our official decree includes a name change for her, back to her maiden name (effective immediately?).
-She has been married twice before, and never even got around to changing her last name to mine, from her previous married name. According to the IRS, she still has her former married name. The only places where her name was changed to mine are on our marriage certificate and her driver's license.
-We were only married for two years. She has 4 other children, who have 3 additional separate last names.

So to summarize, her name was legally changed via the court and documented in our divorce decree. According to the federal government, her legal name is still that of her previous husband. Either way, there is nothing giving her claim to my last name any longer. To the state, she has her maiden name, and to the country she has her former married name. Now that our daughter is in school, she is registering in all systems by MY last name. I already know that this is inaccurate, but is it even legal? Shouldn't she be using one of her two REAL last names for official paperwork/registrations for the school system?

Thank you in advance!

You don't want your daughter to have your last name?

There is nothing fraudulent about your ex-wife registering your daughter under your/your daughter's last name.

 

[not2cleverRed]

You don't want your daughter to have your last name?

There is nothing fraudulent about your ex-wife registering your daughter under your/your daughter's last name.

He's okay with his daughter using his surname.

He just doesn't want his ex-wife using his surname. It does make things easier... Even though in this day and age it is common for a mother to have a different surname from her child(ren), some still feel embarrassed.

 

[Zigner]

There is no fraud occurring and it's not YOUR name. It's A name that you use and happen to share with thousands of other people.

 

[quincy]

He's okay with his daughter using his surname.

He just doesn't want his ex-wife using his surname. It does make things easier... Even though in this day and age it is common for a mother to have a different surname from her child(ren), some still feel embarrassed.

Thanks, Red. I think the pronouns confused me.

Who is harmed by your ex-wife's use of your last name, Kenkudaki?

I believe divorce decrees give a party the OPTION to change their last name but it is not mandatory.

 

[CTU]

There is no fraud occurring and it's not YOUR name. It's A name that you use and happen to share with thousands of other people.

This. A million times, this.

I suspect there is a second Mrs. Op who would rather the original Mrs. Op no longer had the name.

 

[xylene]

If she is using the name to claim or imply she is still married to OP, there are a number of ways that could be problematic or illegal, but OP doesn't seem to be laying any of those out. If she was using it as an alias or in a scam for instance, that would be another matter.

 

[commentator]

It used to be very common for teachers and school employees to assume that the child and the parent had the same last name. Nowadays, it is not nearly so likely, but even so, it happens sometimes that if you have a different name, the school will make the wrong assumption and refer to you as "Mrs. Smith" if Junior's last name is Smith. Maybe what has happened here is that the ex wife listed herself as "Mary Smith" for convenience, or it is entirely possibly that the school just expected Mrs. Smith to be the mother's name, and someone got pushed out of shape hearing her referred to by that name.

It would be very unwise for her to use a last name on school paperwork that she wasn't using anywhere else, as the school might be trying to contact her at work, for example, and if they're asking for Mary Smith and her name at work is Mary Johnson, there would be a problem. Or at doctor's offices, or with social services networks of any kind, there could be serious confusion. In fact, I cannot see any possible advantage to her in doing it. But if she wants to......

Names do not get changed on a marriage certificate. You sure have lots of access to her private information if you KNOW she's using something else according to the IRS and the federal government. They told you this? And this is all about the name you're SURE she's using at the child's school and on all the child's school paperwork, right? They showed you this and proved all this to you? It sounds to me like you are way over concerned about what your ex is doing. There's certainly no way you're going to stop her from calling herself anything she wants to even if it happens to be your last name. You could tell on her to the school, but I really doubt they'd take any action.

 

[LdiJ]

It used to be very common for teachers and school employees to assume that the child and the parent had the same last name. Nowadays, it is not nearly so likely, but even so, it happens sometimes that if you have a different name, the school will make the wrong assumption and refer to you as "Mrs. Smith" if Junior's last name is Smith. Maybe what has happened here is that the ex wife listed herself as "Mary Smith" for convenience, or it is entirely possibly that the school just expected Mrs. Smith to be the mother's name, and someone got pushed out of shape hearing her referred to by that name.

It would be very unwise for her to use a last name on school paperwork that she wasn't using anywhere else, as the school might be trying to contact her at work, for example, and if they're asking for Mary Smith and her name at work is Mary Johnson, there would be a problem. Or at doctor's offices, or with social services networks of any kind, there could be serious confusion. In fact, I cannot see any possible advantage to her in doing it. But if she wants to......

Names do not get changed on a marriage certificate. You sure have lots of access to her private information if you KNOW she's using something else according to the IRS and the federal government. They told you this? And this is all about the name you're SURE she's using at the child's school and on all the child's school paperwork, right? They showed you this and proved all this to you? It sounds to me like you are way over concerned about what your ex is doing. There's certainly no way you're going to stop her from calling herself anything she wants to even if it happens to be your last name. You could tell on her to the school, but I really doubt they'd take any action.

All government agencies are going to consider someone's last name to be the name on their Social Security Card. A name change is not complete or official until their name has been changed with the SSA.

People honestly can call themselves anything that they want to call themselves as long as there is no intent to defraud anyone.

 

[cbg]

My parents have been divorced since the early 80's and my mother still uses my father's name. She kept it in order to make it easier for her children (I was the only one who was out of school at the time). She has filed her taxes every year and is currently collecting her social security benefits, and no Federal or state agency has ever once turned a hair.

It is neither illegal nor fraud.