Petition format

[clarke1021]

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

Hello. I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this kind of question - I just google searched for a law forum and this is what came up. No one locally seems to be able to help me. I have a few questions regarding the format to petition my local courthouse for a court order.

When filling out this petition, where it asks to fill in things like Name, Date of Birth, etc. should I :
-Type it in and have it underlined?
-Type it in and not have it underlined?
-Place a line, and handwrite the information in?

One line has "AT Law # ___". Am I assuming correctly in saying this is for attorney use? Could I delete this if I do not have an attorney, or is it best to leave it and leave the line blank?

One page needs to be notarized. I've seen this general format with name change forms, but in this petition someone wrote up, it says:
"I, __________, a Notary Public in and for the County and State aforesaid, do hereby certify that on the _________ day of __________,20____, personally appeared before me and subscribed and swore to the foregoing statement as being true and correct to the best of his knowledge and belief."
Should my name be in there somewhere? I noticed with name change forms, the person's name needed to be there.

Thank you for any and all help you can give. If it's not okay for me to ask these questions or for you to answer these questions, please let me know. If you could maybe find an attorney or two who might be able to help me, that is greatly appreciated - I've exhausted all the resources I can find. If it helps, I live in the city of Richmond.

 

[tranquility]

You will need to read the VA code of civil proceedure (Or, criminal, if appropriate.), the local rules and, maybe, the local local rules. Go to the county law library to find these. Your questions should be answered there. They will list the exact typeface and formatting required by the court.

While possible in certain situations, it is a bit unusual to get a court order without an underlying suit. What's going on?

 

[clarke1021]

Thank you for this information - I didn't realize that there were law libraries.

I need to petition my courthouse for a court order to change my gender on my driver's license and my birth certificate. Several states have a petition much like that of changing a person's name, but the two courthouses I went to just kept telling me I should hire an attorney.

 

[tranquility]

While it's possible to change it on the license, are you sure you can change it on your birth certificate?

 

[clarke1021]

The only thing left that I need is a court order in order to change both. The state I was born in, California, requires a notarized letter from my surgeon (which I have), the court order for my name change (which I have), an affidavit that they sent me, and a court order for change of sex. It's the last piece of my puzzle.