California AB 1121 second phase for easier name/gender change ~ in effect yet?

[Jennygirl]

AB 1121 is supposedly going into full effect TODAY! Huzzah!!

I have been waiting for this day to change my documents. Does anyone have any infos on if it is indeed available to us? I don't wanna go to court and wait in long lines for nothin'.

Thank you in advance for any information

While some states have administrative procedures that permit transgender people to amend the gender marker, name or both on their birth certificates, California still requires a court hearing as a prerequisite before the state's Office of Vital Records will change the gender marker on a birth certificate. Court fees are currently $435 for a gender change or name change petition. AB 1121 will allow individuals to bypass the court and apply directly to the Office of Vital Records to amend a birth certificate. That will both streamline individuals' access to corrected birth certificates and reduce the caseloads of overwhelmed courts. The name change provisions go into effect July 1, 2014 and birth certificate provisions go into effect January 1, 2014.

~ ~ ~

AB 1121 will also make the name change process more private and affordable for transgender people, exempting them from the requirement that a person pay to publish a notice of the intended name change in the local newspaper for four weeks.

!!!

[Eva Marie]

I've been waiting too Jenny. I want to the trans pride event in L.A. recently and the transgender law center was there running a name change clinic. I gave them my info and they are supposed to fill out the necessary forms and send them to me as soon as the forms are available. I'm hoping to receive them soon because i'm ready to get this show on the road. I was born in a state that requires GRS to change the gender on my birth certificate so I am screwed there with making that change until I can afford surgery.

[TerriT]

Admittedly, I haven't kept up on this as closely as I should. I will check with the law center since my plan was to change my name in August.

[Jill F]

I like that this finally happened, but I'm glad I didn't wait around.  I got the heads-up from my wife who is an attorney in Los Angeles that court dates are a LONG, LONG wait, so I filed my papers the old-fashioned way on December 10 and ran my name change in a print newspaper (a small, cheesy one).  The soonest court date I could get will be on July 24.  That's a 7 1/2 month wait in Los Angeles county, folks.   I'm sure it's faster in other parts of CA, but I'm just throwing this out there.

[Autumn]

If anyone has info on how you go about getting your name and gender changed now, can you please post it here? I've been waiting for this to go into place, but I'm having trouble finding info on the steps that need to be taken.

[Jennygirl]

The way I understood it was that no court date will be necessary.. that you can just go to the counter, fill out the sheet and have the required doctor's note, pay a small fee, and bam court ordered name change document.

Then you can go to the DMV with the court ordered name change to get new DL.

I might be wrong though. I'll probably go downtown tomorrow morning and check it out. If you get there at around 8:15 before the doors open the line goes pretty fast. It's the getting up part that SUCKS. THEN eventually that DMV line. Ugh what a gross day that will be

[awilliams1701]

I'm the kind of person that waits at least a week for these kinds of things, even movies, and when I do go I pick odd dates and times. This way it reduces the chance of too many people being there.

[Eva Marie]

The way I understood it was that no court date will be necessary.. that you can just go to the counter, fill out the sheet and have the required doctor's note, pay a small fee, and bam court ordered name change document.

Then you can go to the DMV with the court ordered name change to get new DL.

I might be wrong though. I'll probably go downtown tomorrow morning and check it out. If you get there at around 8:15 before the doors open the line goes pretty fast. It's the getting up part that SUCKS. THEN eventually that DMV line. Ugh what a gross day that will be

Please report back what you find Jenny. Im very interested in the process itself. I'm filing in a different county so I'm hoping the lines will be shorter than they are in LA.

[Kristina77]

I too thought it'd be a simple trip to the court house... hahaha nope.

Unfortunately it seems like they made more of it than it really is.  All that really changed is that you don't have to publish the name change in the newspaper, and you do not need a court hearing to get JUST your GENDER MARKER changed.  You can do that through sending the dept. of vital statistics a form.

YOU DO need a court hearing to get your name AND gender marker changed at the same time.

YOU DO NOT need a court hearing to change just your name (as long as no one objects).  However, you're still going to have to pay the $435 court fee Unless you qualify for the waiver of course.

http://transgenderlawcenter.org/archives/10606

This really sucks, I was hoping to get out of paying that fee, since I'm sure I'm not going to qualify I make too much money. 

Here's what I'm planning to do, after looking through this for a bit.  This way I can avoid having to go to the hearing, even if I do have to pay the fee.

1.) File a name change WITHOUT gender change.
Use form NC-100
http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/nc100.pdf
Make sure to check box 6 that you're changing your name to conform with gender identity.
Make sure to fill out all the attached forms (cover letter, fee waiver, etc.)  You can get those here:
http://www.courts.ca.gov/formnumber.htm
You do not need a doctor's affidavit for this step, just check box 6.


2.) Once awarded the court order for name change, then file the form to change birth certificate name and gender to dept. of vital statistics.  You have to request the form, then mail in that form with your court issued copies of the decree to change your name.


This isn't really very 'streamlined' imho.   It's going to take at least 6-7 weeks to get the court ordered name change, THEN another 2 months on top of that to get my changed birth cert... so looking at 4 months before I can head down to the DMV & SS offices... ugh -_-;  It really sucks they make us jump through so many hoops...  They also advise just to go through with the old process of doing the court hearing for both name & gender change if you live out of state.

[Jennygirl]

Would it make more sense for me to file for name AND gender change ~ NC-2xx docs?

My birth certificate is in Ohio, where they won't let me change my birth certificate at all

I am confused why you would do NC-1xx to only do name change and not gender?

[Kristina77]

Would it make more sense for me to file for name AND gender change ~ NC-2xx docs?

My birth certificate is in Ohio, where they won't let me change my birth certificate at all

I am confused why you would do NC-1xx to only do name change and not gender?

I shoulda mentioned I was born in California and always have lived here I don't... think that you can just apply to california dept. of vital statistics to amend ur birth cert. if u were born out of state sadly But I'd look at that link since I'm no lawyer XD http://transgenderlawcenter.org/archives/10606
They have a button u can ask them questions. 

They did say this in there though:
"For people living in California but born elsewhere, a California court-ordered gender change may or may not be helpful in updating the gender marker on a birth certificate issued from a different state."

Soo... sounds like maybe u'd still have to do a hearing, and even that may not change ur birth cert, but u could get a California DL that way? IDK, as I said I'm no lawyer ^^; Either way if you wanna get a name change you still have to file the fee sadly... I envy those people lucky enough to be born with gender neutral names now XD

[Jennygirl]

Yeah I already knew I was stuck when it comes to birth certificate. No big deal anyway though- as long as I get a passport, to have 2 forms of ID.

So with the new provisions, it's not a court ordered name change that you get? I thought that was what the DMV needs to change DL?

Sorry for the 20 questions. Thanks for the help Kristina

[Khalysta]

http://www.courts.ca.gov/25797.htm - seems to have all the documents.  I believe the filing fees are around ~425.  I've been waiting for this time too which is why I did ffs at this time.  There does seem to be some gray area it seems as to what is "clinically appropriate treatment". 

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=hsc&group=103001-104000&file=103425-103445

To me it can just mean estrogen and living as a female now that the AMA has stated removing genitalia should not be a requirement for transgenders.  I guess it depends on your doctor though.

I'm in the same boat as you with the birth certificate Jenny.  I'm from ohio as well and I can't believe how backwards that state is considering columbus has a huge LGBT community.  I actually wrote a later to the state assemblywoman for where I grew up saying it is backwards and discriminating to not at least have laws allowing for modification of the birth certificate gender. Plus they are 1 of two states that does not allow for at least an addendum.

[Jennygirl]

Whoa what are the chances that you are from Ohio, too?! how cool.

Once again thanks for the info. That is a very informative link and I think I understand now.

So we still have to see a judge- we just don't have to publish in the newspaper like we would have had to do?

[Kristina77]

Yeah I already knew I was stuck when it comes to birth certificate. No big deal anyway though- as long as I get a passport, to have 2 forms of ID.

So with the new provisions, it's not a court ordered name change that you get? I thought that was what the DMV needs to change DL?

Sorry for the 20 questions. Thanks for the help Kristina

lol no problem! they're all questions i've been agonizing over the past couple days myself!  Really sorry to hear about your birth cert. But that law can't last forever, I"m sure it'll get changed at some point!

As for the new laws, it's really hard to distinguish between what it actually does and what people say it does it seems... to the best of my knowledge all the new law did was this:
1.) If born in California, you can get your gender marker(not name) changed on your birth certificate by applying directly to the department of vital statistics and paying $23 for the new certificate.
2.) When applying for a court-ordered name change, you do not have to publish the name change in a newspaper if the purpose is for changing your name to align with your gender identity (that was the wording on the forms, not mine). Check box 6 for that form NC-100.
3.) If changing your name or gender through the courts, you do not have to appear at a hearing if there are no objections to your petition.  However if you are doing both at the same time you are still required to appear in court. (This is form NC-200).  Since you can change your gender marker on passport & DL without a court ordered name change, it makes doing form NC-200 (name & gender at same time) kind of redundant / useless.

So if all you want is the California DL it looks like for the gender change all you have to do is fill out a DMV form DL-239 with the physician's letter. (Doesn't have to be SRS, just says 'treatment' so I'm guessing it can be the endo).  That'll change the marker from M to F on the DL.  To get the name change though you DO need a court ordered name change. To me it really seems dumb how they do gender & name separately... like someone would want a female name on a DL that says Sex: M or a male name on a DL that says Sex: F!! O.o It would make just the most sense to do name & gender at same time w/o hearing and this is what me and a lot of other ppl thought the new law did, but sadly it doesn't

The reason why I said just to do an NC-100 instead of an NC-200 is that the NC-100 means you don't have to actually go to a hearing.  You still have to pay the court fee, but you don't have to get all your documents and together and go sit in front of a judge.  Pretty sure you can change the gender marker on your passport just doing it through them   Hopefully the link below will help!!

http://transgenderlawcenter.org/issues/id/changing-legal-identity-documents-in-california

[Kristina77]

So we still have to see a judge- we just don't have to publish in the newspaper like we would have had to do?

If we only do a name change, we don't have to see a judge.  If we do a name + gender change we do have to see one.  I'm just gonna do my name change first, then do my gender markers change on the DL & Passports forms separately so I don't have to waste a day in court XD sucks we still have to pay the fee tho. Sorry I typed pretty much the same stuff but longer b4 i took forever on my reply

[Jennygirl]

That's great! I like your plan.

So does that mean with doing name change alone, it will still take 4 months wait time because they still have to schedule a court date even though you don't have to appear? We are stuck waiting 4 months no matter what? Oh well. I've waited this long, another 4 months whatever

[Kristina77]

That's great! I like your plan.

So does that mean with doing name change alone, it will still take 4 months wait time because they still have to schedule a court date even though you don't have to appear? We are stuck waiting 4 months no matter what? Oh well. I've waited this long, another 4 months whatever

Yeah we have to get a court date hearing This gives ppl time to 'object'.  If no one objects by 2 days prior to the hearing they grant it without the hearing.  I said like 4 months because I was thinking minimum time for court order + birth cert... .realistically I guess we don't know when we get a hearing.  They say on the forms a minimum of six weeks.  But Didn't someone up the list say it took them 7 months? IDK this is California so even if we didn't have to reserve a court date it'd probably take just as long XD My mom just became an RN and it literally took her 7 months to start working with all the hoops they made her jump through.

[Khalysta]

Doesn't social security need the gender change?  I was more worried about them because filing paperwork at a new job and if it mismatches they can question your employer.  It's all quite confusing!

Jenny:  Yes it was quite the coincidence when I saw you were from Ohio too   It's so much nicer out here in So Cal

[Kristina77]

Doesn't social security need the gender change?  I was more worried about them because filing paperwork at a new job and if it mismatches they can question your employer.  It's all quite confusing!

Jenny:  Yes it was quite the coincidence when I saw you were from Ohio too   It's so much nicer out here in So Cal

It would seem that now all you need to change your gender marker on your social security is the doctor's letter saying that you've undergone treatment, not SRS.  They cut out the requirement to have SRS last year I believe.  However to change your name, I believe you have to change it on your driver's license, passport or birth certificate first. That way you have proof of your current identity.  Correct me if I'm wrong but it doesn't look like they take the court ordered name change as proof of identity in changing the name on your social security card.


So looks like for ppl born out of state it'd go.
1.) File for your court ordered name change (w/o gender change if you want to avoid a hearing).
2.) Take court ordered name change + Dr.'s letter of treatment and get California DL from DMV.
3.) Take your California DL  + Dr.'s letter of treatment and get a new social security card.

Don't know about passport though, sorry!

Sources: http://transequality.org/Resources/SSAResource_June2013.pdf
https://faq.ssa.gov/link/portal/34011/34019/Article/3749/How-do-I-change-or-correct-my-name-on-my-Social-Security-number-card?