name and birth cert change

[Missadventure]

This is perhaps a stupid question, but, hoping someone here can answer it.

I'm looking into the process of changing my name and gender makers. At the moment they're male on everything.

What I need to know is does this process have to go through the state of my birth? I was born in California. I currently live in Indiana, and have no way to get back to California. I know for a name change a court appearance is required. Can I change my name here in Indiana? And, if so, is that officially recognized as legal elsewhere?

Can I also petition the Indiana courts or whatever to update my birth certificate? Or does that have to go through the county vital records office in the county of my birth in California? If it does, can that be something done via mail, or do they need me to physically be there?

Thanks! 

[Lauren5]

I'm not 100% sure, but I do believe you have to return to the county seat of the county your birth certificate was issued in.
Cheer up, though, it's pretty easy to do this in California compared to other states.

[Missadventure]

I'm not 100% sure, but I do believe you have to return to the county seat of the county your birth certificate was issued in.
Cheer up, though, it's pretty easy to do this in California compared to other states.

Sigh... It's not so much the hassle of the process I have a problem with. It's the hassle of getting there. That's a $600 round trip flight, or a $1200 round trip drive. And I have no money to throw at transit like that. :-( One more thing on my list of "need to do" that gets moved to the bottom because of money...

[Lauren5]

Sigh... It's not so much the hassle of the process I have a problem with. It's the hassle of getting there. That's a $600 round trip flight, or a $1200 round trip drive. And I have no money to throw at transit like that. :-( One more thing on my list of "need to do" that gets moved to the bottom because of money...

What time were you thinking of going? I found $300 roundtrip with Delta for early July from DTW-LAX and then $16 roundtrip on a Greyhound bus from LA-Bakersfield. $600 seems ridiculously high for IND, MDW, or ORD.

[LordKAT]

Name change can be done from anywhere you live, just send the court papers to the county you were born in to change the Birth cert. I don't know about gender though.

[Missadventure]

What time were you thinking of going? I found $300 roundtrip with Delta for early July from DTW-LAX and then $16 roundtrip on a Greyhound bus from LA-Bakersfield. $600 seems ridiculously high for IND, MDW, or ORD.

My timetable is "as soon as I can afford it", pretty much. Detroit is out of my way on this end, and LAX is out of my way on that end, so that doesn't work. OAK or SFO are the two airports on that end that work for me, and IND, MDW, or ORD on this end. I did the flight last June, and it was actually $800 for the roundtrip, and that was the cheapest I could find. Greyhound from LA to SF is trip I did once in my life, and I'm pretty sure that's my lifetime allowance for that trip. I-5 on a crowded bus for 8 hours is maddening. But, honestly. $300 amounts to an entire paycheck at this point in my life, and I can't really spare that kind of money :-(

Name change can be done from anywhere you live, just send the court papers to the county you were born in to change the Birth cert. I don't know about gender though.

Good to know. I suppose having an M on things is tolerable if my name at least gets updated. In 32 years I have yet to find a situation where having my gender on a public record REALLY matters to anyone but me. So, if I can't change that right away I can cope.

[Lauren5]

Hmm, wonder why SFO area is so much more expensive. Maybe try SJC? it can tend to be cheaper sometimes.
I'll do some looking if you'd like.

From what I know, I think name requiresa court appearance, but after July 1st, gender won't. Have to brush up on CA laws. I was only given a packet when I first thought I was starting HRT for Ingham County MI, not for Kern County CA.

Lucky you, my gender marker is keeping me in the men's dorms at school.

EDIT: found IND-SFO for $302 on Frontier in mid-March, and $276 on American in late February.

EDIT 2: early February on Delta or American for $276. I'll PM with more info if requested.

[Missadventure]

Hmm, wonder why SFO area is so much more expensive. Maybe try SJC? it can tend to be cheaper sometimes.
I'll do some looking if you'd like.

From what I know, I think name requiresa court appearance, but after July 1st, gender won't. Have to brush up on CA laws. I was only given a packet when I first thought I was starting HRT for Ingham County MI, not for Kern County CA.

Lucky you, my gender marker is keeping me in the men's dorms at school.

EDIT: found IND-SFO for $302 on Frontier in mid-March, and $276 on American in late February.

EDIT 2: early February on Delta or American for $276. I'll PM with more info if requested.

I went down to my local courthouse today and asked them. I can do the name change here, and it will be valid everywhere. And the process here is relatively simple - the hardest part is coming up with $112 to run a newspaper ad for three weeks. And, if after July 1st I can change my gender in CA without appearing in court, then, I can wait until then.

But thanks!

[Lauren5]

I went down to my local courthouse today and asked them. I can do the name change here, and it will be valid everywhere. And the process here is relatively simple - the hardest part is coming up with $112 to run a newspaper ad for three weeks. And, if after July 1st I can change my gender in CA without appearing in court, then, I can wait until then.

But thanks!

Oh wow, that's pretty cool. I'll look into that here as well. Saves me a trip to California I can apply to surgery travel costs.

Anytime. I guess that goes to anyone, I'd they need airline help of some sort. I'm here to help.

[Missadventure]

Oh wow, that's pretty cool. I'll look into that here as well. Saves me a trip to California I can apply to surgery travel costs.

Anytime. I guess that goes to anyone, I'd they need airline help of some sort. I'm here to help.

The caviat is I have to "officially" become an indiana resident. Meaning, get an indiana drivers license. Which, if that's the determining factor, my current drivers license is from Ohio, not CA. Sucks that I'll have to get a license here with my male name, just to change my name and go back to get a new license with my female name on it... But, meh, bureaucracies in action..

[Lauren5]

The caviat is I have to "officially" become an indiana resident. Meaning, get an indiana drivers license. Which, if that's the determining factor, my current drivers license is from Ohio, not CA. Sucks that I'll have to get a license here with my male name, just to change my name and go back to get a new license with my female name on it... But, meh, bureaucracies in action..

Mayne you could travel to Ohio to get the name changed since you're officially a resident of there.

Makes me wonder, will I have to travel to my "official" county of residence? I'll have to check, because I have a lot of family there, that's not the first impression I want to have of my gender, seeing an add in the newspaper.
At least I can just ask dad to drive me up, he'd probably have some reason to go. But if I can do it in Ingham rather than Mackinac county, that'd be great.

Either way, I think I'll wait until I can get my gender changed so I can go to the SecState with both documents in hand and get them changed both at one. I understand your case is different, however.

[Missadventure]

Mayne you could travel to Ohio to get the name changed since you're officially a resident of there.

Makes me wonder, will I have to travel to my "official" county of residence? I'll have to check, because I have a lot of family there, that's not the first impression I want to have of my gender, seeing an add in the newspaper.
At least I can just ask dad to drive me up, he'd probably have some reason to go. But if I can do it in Ingham rather than Mackinac county, that'd be great.

Either way, I think I'll wait until I can get my gender changed so I can go to the SecState with both documents in hand and get them changed both at one. I understand your case is different, however.

I'd rather just go ahead and get an indiana license. Ohio has a lot of emotional baggage for me that I'd like to avoid. Plus my county of residence there is very small, and I know a lot of people there who read the paper whom I quite frankly don't want gossiping about me (and they will).

[Lauren5]

I'd rather just go ahead and get an indiana license. Ohio has a lot of emotional baggage for me that I'd like to avoid. Plus my county of residence there is very small, and I know a lot of people there who read the paper whom I quite frankly don't want gossiping about me (and they will).

Good idea. So I guess I'll want to switch everything over to Ingham.

This worked out nicely, we've ended out helping eachother out some. Thanks