Name Change - court filing or no?

[blahbleebloo]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Sacramento County, CA

Okay so here's the deal. I won't post my real name here, but let's just say that my "name" is "Sally Marie Jones". I have gone by "Marie" since birth, but all of my official documents say Sally M Jones or Sally Marie Jones, regardless of what I've requested. This has caused some fairly annoying complications with things such as bank accounts, payroll, 401(k) and such because as far as I'm concerned, my name is "Marie".

My question is this: If I just want to legally drop the name "Sally", and just have my legal name be "Marie Jones", what is the easiest way of doing that? I know that I can file a petition for a name change with the court, but that costs $320 that I don't really have, and it seems kind of extreme to just drop a first name (nothing's really being "changed").

Is that my only option or is there something quicker, cheaper and easier?

I realize that this seems a petty and stupid problem, and honestly if the $320 route is my only option I'll just leave things alone, but I just thought it wouldn't hurt to find out.

Thanks!

"Marie"

 

[seniorjudge]

Sally, go the $320 route.

I'm sorry...Marie.

 

[blahbleebloo]

No biggie, thanks for the response! I guess I'll just have to deal with it until I can come up with the $320 or just decide to become "Sally". Might be nice to have an alter-ego.

 

[tranquility]

California is a common law state regarding your name. Anything you go by as long as it is not intended to deceive (and a couple more elements, but you would qualify) is your legal name. People must accept this designation by case law up to the California Supreme Court. (Much of the jurisprudence is fairly recent and involves transexuals.) The only people who don't is/are the government. Go by the name you want with regularity and insist others agree. There does seem to be a conflict with banking and the Patriot act which has not been resolved by the court as yet.

So, you can use it and insist and have the hassle, or pay the money. Both are legal. Both are correct. It's merely a matter of how valuable your time is to you.

 

[blahbleebloo]

You rock, Tranquility...

Wow, thanks so much for answering my question! Does this mean that I can get the SS office to take my first name off my SS card? That seems to be the crux of the matter.

But of course if the government is the exception that wouldn't necessarily recognize my "common law name change", then I guess the SS office would still need court paperwork I guess.

My employer says that they have to go by what's on my SS card, so because all of my payroll, 401(k), etc has "Sally" on it, and my bank account says "Marie", there is a conflict and people start freaking out about my identity every time I try to touch anything.

I've had my bank account under "Sally Marie" & "S Marie" and everyone still pitches a fit about making sure I'm me.

I mean, I'm glad they're protecting my identity and all, but it does start to get annoying when they're attempting to protect me from myself.

So basically my option other than spending $320 in court, is to convince my employer (and the rest of the world) of my "common law name change" correct?

 

[HomeGuru]

Can we call you Sally Mae from now on?

 

[Indiana Filer]

My daughter goes by her middle name, and has since birth. (I picked out a beautiful first name, but her 3 year old brother started calling her the middle name, so that's what stuck.)

She has been "S. Marie Lastname" (not really, but close enough) on bank records, and has been just "Marie Lastname" on bank records. The library has her as "Marie S. Lastname", because there is a distant cousin in our county named "Marie M. Lastname" who also has a library card.

Her school records, Social Security card, driver's license, etc, all have her "Sally Marie Lastname". She just had to make sure to sign her official name on the social security card and driver's license. For school, she would just tell the teacher to call her Marie.

There have been no problems with not using the legal first name.

I have juvenile probation clients who go by their middle names. Their court records all have their legal name, such as William Robert Name. When writing reports, I just refer to them by full name to start with, and then use the middle name thereafter in the report. The judges have never had a problem.

My first name is an old-fashioned virtue name. I usually get called a diminutive of that name. The nickname is the one that I sign when I file documents with the court. My actual paycheck issued by the county has the full first name on it.

All that is just to say why not just keep your legal name, but have people call you whatever you want. It should be no problem, especially since you're going by one of your legal names. It's no different than Robert going by Bob, or William going by Bill.

 

[tranquility]

Sorry, but SS is part of the government. It's even worse as the California Supreme Court has no power over the federal government.

Your employer should not be a problem. Stick to your grounds. If your employer is of any size, the HR department will quickly find out the law once they look it up. Employers are usually a defendant in the suits I've seen on the name issue.