When You're Not Caitlyn Jenner, Here's Why It's Difficult To Get A Name Change
http://www.mtv.com/news/2284458/name-change-transgender-individuals/
by katherine speller 05-Oct-2015
When Caitlyn Jenner legally changed her name and gender on Sept. 25, the Internet rejoiced. It was Starbucks cup official just two weeks after she first filed the petition with the Los Angeles County Courts.
But not everyone has the power of celebrity on their side. The process of obtaining legal recognition of one's name and gender can often be frustrating — yet the issue of accurate identification is one most cisgender (that is, non-trans) individuals rarely think about.
"Every time a cis person pulls out their identification to buy a bottle of wine, cash a check or verify their identity at the post office, TSA or anywhere, it's done without a second thought," Lourdes Ashley Hunter, Chief Operations Officer at Casa Ruby LGBT Center, the National Director of the Trans Women of Color Collective and a well-known advocate for trans rights, told MTV News.
[...]
I had relatively smooth ride for my name change in NJ, but it was expensive. It shouldn't be. Here is what it cost me:
Filing fee: $250
Newspaper ads: $43.50 (total cost, 2@~$21 and change each)
Copies of the final judgment: $125, (5@ $25 each, I got 5, one should get at least three)
Filing fee for NJ div of treasury: $50
Postage: $32.05 (certified mail return receipt, x4 times, plus return postage x2)
Total is a hair over $500.00.
I did not include travel costs which were about $15, plus having to take a day off work (which may mean loss of income for some people). I also did not include miscellaneous costs like stationery and use of my computer, paper and toner to research and prepare the filing. I would estimate that is less than $10, but something not everyone would have available to them.
I can see someone on public assistance or maybe just even having a low wage job not being able to afford this. What's even more tragic is that it's the Government who is making us pay so much money.
A name change should be a simple form. You walk into whatever office (DMV, county clerk, post office) and just swear under penalty of perjury that you're not doing it to defraud anyone. Charge $5 or something to cover document fees and waive it for people below the poverty line.
There should also be NO need to publish it in the newspaper!!! It should simply be sent out to registered collection agencies and credit bureaus if they are concerned that people are skipping out on bad debt. Besides, most times they have your SSN anyway, and you don't get a new SSN when you change your name.
I am also very lucky that my name can be a feminine name, even though I opted to change it. I changed my gender marker on my ID (another $11.50 to the state, plus the cost of a therapy session to have my therapist sign the form) so I don't have problems when I buy age restricted items like alcohol or even spray paint or super glue. But for some people they don't. Can you imagine how terrifying it is if you are MTF and to be asked for ID if your birth name is Mike, Bob or Billy? Or if you're FTM and your birth name is Anna or Mary? Before I got my ID changed it was terrible. I hated being carded. Plus the picture didn't match. Now I am at least somewhat better and while carding is still annoying, showing my ID doesn't out me as much.
It is incredibly easy here in Arizona, and you aren't required to post anything in the newspaper. And since I was born in California, I can change my gender on my birth certificate prior to having SRS. I had the hardest time changing my name and gender on my passport though, mostly due to being told to submit a Ds-82 form instead of a Ds-11 by the post office employee I spoke with over the phone when I called to schedule an appointment.
Name change was pretty easy for my wife, who just did it a few weeks ago in CT; $150 filing fee and sign an affidavit. No newspaper publication, no need to show up in court, no hoops to jump through besides the form and waiting for court order + two copies to show up in the mail. Well, then the hassle REALLY begins, when she has to change it everywhere else. :)
(When I changed mine, I did also have to chat with a judge in a conference room for five minutes or so, but that was no biggie.)
The fee is still a little steep, but there's a waiver for anyone at 200% of federal poverty line, so it's not quite as bad as it looks.
I was only able to get an amended birth certificate in UT in 2007 after they changed their laws. Fortunately, I had no need for a passport. I currently reside in CA and it is pretty easy to change your name and gender. You can do it on your own by filing the appropriate paperwork. California also provides the means to assign a new birth certificate if your home state will not. I love California!
Cindi
For me it was really easy as well, $138, a form i had to fill out and an excerpt in the Manitoba Gazette (which was part of the cost) Had my name change certificate in about a week
Luckily in Scotland you can change your name at any time as long as you don't want to defraud anyone
Apparently for passport etc you need a statutory declaration which costs about £10
If you want a new birth certificate it costs about £55
Altogether £65 which is $98.46 ;)
All well and good but those filing fees are a fortune for someone working a minimum wage job. I earn six figures, I can afford it but for Trans people this is the exception rather than the norm I was told.
What's amazing is that NJ which has a full suite of protective laws for LGBT makes us go through this process.
Oh btw I can't change my BC, ever, unless laws in my old country change. I plan to correct it myself and send it back to them. I have zero use for it.
Quote from: Cindi Jones on October 05, 2015, 04:56:04 PM
I was only able to get an amended birth certificate in UT in 2007 after they changed their laws. Fortunately, I had no need for a passport. I currently reside in CA and it is pretty easy to change your name and gender. You can do it on your own by filing the appropriate paperwork. California also provides the means to assign a new birth certificate if your home state will not. I love California!
Cindi
OMG! I didn't know that CA could do that. I was born in Louisiana and there is no chance that that backward hole will ever allow a gender marker change.
https://www.susans.org/wiki/Changing_sex_on_driver%27s_licenses_in_the_US#Louisiana
https://www.susans.org/wiki/Changing_sex_on_birth_certificates_in_the_US#Louisiana
I am unfamiliar with this provision of California law and in all my research I have not come across it. I was born in Colorado and even though I have a California court order to change my birth certificate, Colorado refuses to honor it unless I also provide a surgeons letter indicating I have under gone a surgical procedure to transition. It would be great if I could get a California birth certificate. Could you direct me to where this provision of law is?
Quote from: Cindi Jones on October 05, 2015, 04:56:04 PM
California also provides the means to assign a new birth certificate if your home state will not. I love California!
Cindi
One thing about her change of name and gender is the speed by which it was apparently granted. Many transgender individuals in California have 6 weeks to 6 month wait times to get their case on calendar at the court because of the backlog of cases in the system. When I did mine in May, there was a 6 week period of time between filing and my court date. I was in a county that has a smaller case load than LA county. I know of individuals here in LA County that have had to wait 6 months or more for their court dates. I would be interested to know how the process was shortened for her. Perhaps there are a few other girls who would like to take advantage of that faster process.
Quote from: Devlyn Marie on October 06, 2015, 02:28:11 PM
https://www.susans.org/wiki/Changing_sex_on_driver%27s_licenses_in_the_US#Louisiana
https://www.susans.org/wiki/Changing_sex_on_birth_certificates_in_the_US#Louisiana
But La requires SRS.
I didn't even give you the right link, we were talking about name change, not gender change. :laugh:
https://www.susans.org/wiki/Changing_legal_name_in_the_US#Louisiana
I imagine you're at the mercy of whatever official gets your request, but it is possible and doesn't require surgery.
Hugs, Devlyn
Quote from: Cindi Jones on October 05, 2015, 04:56:04 PM
I was only able to get an amended birth certificate in UT in 2007 after they changed their laws. Fortunately, I had no need for a passport. I currently reside in CA and it is pretty easy to change your name and gender. You can do it on your own by filing the appropriate paperwork. California also provides the means to assign a new birth certificate if your home state will not. I love California!
Cindi
Is that right? Will they do it for people who were born outside the US?
Quote from: iKate on October 07, 2015, 09:39:15 AM
Is that right? Will they do it for people who were born outside the US?
Do you have to reside in CA for a birth certificate change?
FWIW, a lawyer friend who often handles legal issues for trans people informs me that in our county (Westchester County, NY), there's a court decision that the publication requirement is automatically waived when someone is changing their gender by court order. It's presumed that publishing the name and gender change would put the person in danger of harrassment or discrimination. It's only a local court decision, but apparently the other judges in the county are treating it as a sort of de facto precendent.
Unfortunately, he says, the NYC judges are not always so understanding.
BTW: only the state where you were born can change your birth certificate, since they're the ones who maintain the record of your birth and issue certified copies of the birth certificate. I'm not sure what the US does for people born outside the USA. (I do know that if you're a US citizen and have a child outside the US, the nearest consulate will register the birth, so maybe the State department would maintain those records.)
Quote from: Cindi Jones on October 05, 2015, 04:56:04 PM
I was only able to get an amended birth certificate in UT in 2007 after they changed their laws. Fortunately, I had no need for a passport. I currently reside in CA and it is pretty easy to change your name and gender. You can do it on your own by filing the appropriate paperwork. California also provides the means to assign a new birth certificate if your home state will not. I love California!
Cindi
Can someone with some real legal knowledge please confirm weather or not this is true? Seems unlikely that a state could issue a new birth certificate to a person NOT born in that state. If this is not true then people should really think about what they are claiming as to avoid misinformation.
I believe that what Cindi may be referring to is a procedure allowed under California law to have a "Court Ordered Delayed Registration of Birth" issued by the California Department of Public Health - Office of Vital Records. I have no idea if in fact a court would order the issuance of the Delayed Registration of Birth based upon the fact that your home state/country refuses to issue you a birth certificate in your new name and gender. It appears to be entirely discretionary for the court.
California procedure requires you to file a "Petition to Establish Fact, Time and Place of Birth " (Form MC-361) in the Superior Court of the county where the birth took place (not needed for transgender individuals born in California who have a birth certificate already) or the county where they reside (for those of us born out of state or out of the country). That petition contains the basics of the request, including a check box for one of two reasons for the request. They are 1). there is no official record or 2) a certified copy of the record can't be obtained, and you are asked to explain the reason for not being able to obtain the record. At the time of filing you must also include a declaration (Form MC-361A) stating the facts which support the date, time and location of the birth. The declaration can include statements of personal knowledge or documents. Both the Petition and the Declaration and signed under penalty of perjury.
At the hearing on the petition an original "Order Establishing Fact of Birth/Court Order Delayed Registration of Birth" (VS 108 - this is a form that has to be obtained directly from the California Department of Public Health) must be presented to the court filled out correctly. Photocopies or downloaded forms are not acceptable because this is the document that will become the official record of the delayed registration of birth and it is printed on special paper. In addition to the above documents, an "Order Establishing Fact of Birth" needs to be prepared for the judges signature. If the court grants the petition, the court will sign the order and the correct documents will need to be mailed to the State of California Department of Public Health.
None of this should be considered legal advice, as I stated I don't know if this was the procedure Cindi was referring to, nor do I know that a court would grant the request if made on the basis of the refusal of your home state to issue a new birth certificate based on gender reassignment. In the end you don't really get what most people would consider a birth certificate, you get a court ordered delayed registration of birth. That may be acceptable to some but I do not want that to be my birth certificate.
Quote from: iKate on October 06, 2015, 08:40:05 AM
What's amazing is that NJ which has a full suite of protective laws for LGBT makes us go through this process.
It's not being made difficult to discriminate against transgender people. Name changing laws were around for a long time. It's so you aren't trying to avoid paying debts or running from the law. This is why they make you post a notice in the news paper.
I grew up in NJ. I've been living in NYC the past six months.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Quote from: Amy1988 on October 07, 2015, 10:34:53 AM
Do you have to reside in CA for a birth certificate change?
If they would issue me a new BC I would move to CA. Even if it's just temporary.
Quote from: RavenMoon on October 12, 2015, 12:20:59 AM
It's not being made difficult to discriminate against transgender people. Name changing laws were around for a long time. It's so you aren't trying to avoid paying debts or running from the law. This is why they make you post a notice in the news paper.
I grew up in NJ. I've been living in NYC the past six months.
Of course. I never said that the intent was to target trans people. I did say that the current procedure makes it difficult for us, and one would think with all of the other laws (employment discrimination, easy driver license change, even firearms ID gender change etc) they would amend the name change statutes to allow trans people to change their name more easily and privately.
It should not be expensive, it should not take a long time and no one should have to essentially be ordered to be outed by the state.
A name change should never be more than a few dollars, if that. It should definitely not be $500. Poor trans people cannot afford that. That money can pay for laser, hormones, or even put food on the table.
In fact, up to about 1991 judges can and did deny people a name change because they were trans. The Eck case in the Superior Court appellate division established our right to change our name. The judge who denied her ruled that, "it is inherently fraudulent for a person who is physically a male to assume an obviously `female' name for the sole purpose of representing himself to future employers and society as a female." It was reversed on appeal and that ruling set precedent.
I know that is ancient history but so far I have not seen any amendment to the laws regarding name change for trans people. We just have that ruling. Surely they can make it better... they had all that time under Corzine, Codey and McGreevey.
Quote from: iKate on October 12, 2015, 11:55:06 AM
A name change should never be more than a few dollars, if that. It should definitely not be $500. Poor trans people cannot afford that. That money can pay for laser, hormones, or even put food on the table.
I'm in full agreement here. And NJ isn't as bad as some states.
Hopefully this will continue to be more commonplace. And easier. [emoji4]
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk