Person can’t remember details of all previous marriages

[commentator]

I call baloney! If she is going to be in any shape to travel in the next "five to ten years" she can't be much over 80, If she's got dementia you aren't going to be looking at taking her out of the country in the next five or ten years. She has no real need to for a real ID. Then I happen to know, having changed my name five times in my life, being older than dirt, having obtained passports, driver's licenses, etc. and recently obtained a real ID, that is information she will not have to provide.

If she was that darn fried during the sixties, seventies, eighties, how did she ever get into a "confidential marriage". With who, and for what purpose? "I don't remember?"Come on!!! You are seeking information from a person who is not cooperating with you, and this sounds very hinky for you.

I do not know why you are so vitally interested in getting this person a real ID but I am saying that when I got my real ID, I did NOT have to go through a detailed explanation of how my name had gotten from this to that to that. No one has ever asked that! When I was signing up for my Social Security, (some time back but I do remember it!!) I was asked about previous marriages, just in case I had any Social Security benefits to draw from a previous marriage. But this wasn't exact, no precise dates were asked about, and they seemed to have most of the data they needed already. When I was getting married this last time, I was asked "what number of marriage is this for you?" which was the most detail it has ever come up as, and they readily accepted my estimate (and I DO remember them all!)

And in the many years I spent of working with the public in social services programs I will have to say that many times I have taken many a very limited, very damaged very mentally ill or very intoxicated person through their work history, matrimonial history, educational history, sexual history.....and this thing of not being able to tell you anything about the dates within four or five years....that is totally not realisticl!

 

[Zigner]

I call baloney! If she is going to be in any shape to travel in the next "five to ten years" she can't be much over 80, If she's got dementia you aren't going to be looking at taking her out of the country in the next five or ten years. She has no real need to for a real ID. Then I happen to know, having changed my name five times in my life, being older than dirt, having obtained passports, driver's licenses, etc. and recently obtained a real ID, that is information she will not have to provide.

The person applying for a REAL-ID will have to proved documents showing a "paper trail" for each name change. This doesn't necessarily mean divorce records, but only documents for actions that caused the name change. I believe this was mentioned (or at least alluded to) earlier in the thread.

To be clear, the requirement is that the identification document match her current name, or show a trail from her maiden name to her current name.

Woman, born Sally Smith.
Got married and changed name to Sally Jones.
Divorced, but kept the last name of "Jones", then remarried and became Sally Jefferson.
Divorced, but kept the last name of "Jefferson", then remarried and became Sally Williams.
Now divorced and not remarried, but kept "Williams".

She will need her birth certificate (or other acceptable proof), along with the marriage paperwork for the marriages to Mr. Jones, Mr. Jefferson, and Mr. Williams.

If she changed her name from "Williams" back to her maiden name of "Smith" after the last marriage, then no documentation of any marriage(s) will be required.

If she changed her name back to "Smith" after every divorce, then remarried as "Sally Smith" each time, but kept Williams after the last marriage, then she would only need the paperwork from the last marriage.

She just needs a "paper trail" showing her name changing from her maiden name to her current name.

Heck, if she could find a person named Arnold Smith, she wouldn't even need to show proof of the current marriage as part of the identification process.

 

[FlyingRon]

Sorry, Zig, that is certainly NOT universally true. At least in this state, you only need to provide name change documents that show that the name on the license you are applying for is the same as the one on whatever other record(s) you are submitting. For example, if her current name is a result of taking her husband's name at her last marriage, and the marriage certificate from that marriage shows her birth name, and her birth certificate is what she is using for her required ID, then that's all she needs. She could have been married and divorced more times than Jerry Lee Lewis and that's all she'd need.
If she is legally using her birth name and that birth certificate is what she's using, then it matters not how many other names she used over the years.

 

[Zigner]

Sorry, Zig, that is certainly NOT universally true. At least in this state, you only need to provide name change documents that show that the name on the license you are applying for is the same as the one on whatever other record(s) you are submitting. For example, if her current name is a result of taking her husband's name at her last marriage, and the marriage certificate from that marriage shows her birth name, and her birth certificate is what she is using for her required ID, then that's all she needs. She could have been married and divorced more times than Jerry Lee Lewis and that's all she'd need.
If she is legally using her birth name and that birth certificate is what she's using, then it matters not how many other names she used over the years.

I never said it was "universally true". This is a California thread and I responded based on California requirements.

ETA: In any case, my main point was that one must be able to show a paper trail from the maiden name to the current name. Your example would be such a trail, so that makes sense.

 

[FlyingRon]

You said "for each name change." You only need to show it for the name change that causes the documents not to agree.

 

[Zigner]

You said "for each name change." You only need to show it for the name change that causes the documents not to agree.

Did you read my examples and further explanation?

 

[stealth2]

If she's got dementia you aren't going to be looking at taking her out of the country in the next five or ten years.

How do you know? The progression is as varied as the person affected. And the feasibility of travel depends greatly on the person(s) accompanying.

 

[FlyingRon]

Did you read my examples and further explanation?

Yes, and it was still wrong.

 

[Zigner]

Yes, and it was still wrong.

To be clear, the requirement is that the identification document match her current name, or show a trail from her maiden name to her current name.

What, exactly is wrong with that? It's exactly what you said.

 

[zddoodah]

What can she do to get a proper record search to get to the bottom of which marriages are valid and what her current status is?

This is impossible to answer intelligently in the abstract. Unless this woman has failing mental faculties, I have a hard time believing she has had so many marriages that she can't at least remember whom she married, where the marriage ceremonies occurred, and roughly when they occurred. Obviously, marriage records are maintained by the county where each license was obtained. While confidential marriage records are not available to the general public, they are available to the parties to the marriage. And divorce case records are filed at the county courthouse. I would imagine that obtaining full case files for cases filed 30+ years ago could be difficult or impossible.

Many jurisdictions have online databases that are searchable for free.

California has no statewide database for this.

Will that work for marriages filed confidentially and sealed divorces?

I've never heard of a "sealed divorce." While certain parts of a divorce case file (primarily documents containing financial information) can be sealed, most of the documents in the file won't be subject to being sealed.

What can she do now if she finds a marriage that was missed by the clerk 40 years ago and then determines her later marriages are invalid because she failed to get a divorce from that earlier marriage?

The first part of this question doesn't make a lot of sense. MAYBE things were done differently 40+ years ago, but for at least the last 30 years, the filing of a divorce petition does not trigger a search by the court clerk to find a record of a valid marriage. The validity of the marriage is going to be assumed unless someone challenges that fact. In any event, if the woman in question has committed multiple acts of bigamy because some prior marriage was not properly terminated, she's going to want to discuss with a family law attorney how to deal with that.

Didn’t they do background checks on previous marriages before they register new marriages? If the previous marriage was recorded, it would have been in the same county. So, I would think they would find it even if it was confidential.

The answer to the question is no. Why? Because who knows where a prior marriage might have occurred. A person might have gotten married in France and then divorced in New York...and then married in Pennsylvania...and then divorced in Georgia...and then married in Texas...and then divorced in Nevada...etc., etc. When applying for a marriage license, the couple must each certify that all prior marriages have been terminated. If that certification turns out to be wrong, it could result in a perjury charge and/or the invalidation of the marriage.

She needs to get a Real ID and passport and she needs a paperwork trail showing how her name legally changed from her maiden name to her current name.

I doubt that this paper trail is required, and it might be simpler for this woman to seek a court-ordered name change. Also, the documentation required to get a passport is not nearly as rigorous as you seem to think (my family and I got new passports earlier this year, and the documentation needed was minimal).

 

[BuyLowSellHigh]

If you scroll down a bit on that link, you will see that starting October 1, 2021 your license has to be "Real ID" compliant in order to fly in the US.

Which only applies if you use your state ID as identification.

If you scroll down further there is a "Forgot your ID?" section which explains that there are alternatives available to the TSA. So yes, that alternative "may" include a non-REAL-ID driver's license.