Today was the big day to finalize my name change. The court proceedings today was certainly a surreal moment. The judge's secretary called my yesterday to confirm and verify I had all my documents needed. She told me to be there at 8:30 and the courtroom would open at 8:15 and to just come in. She knew I was transgender as I put it as a reason to change my name to reflect my female identity and she said come dressed as myself. The courtroom was in the Rotunda building in the Bergen County Courthouse (NJ) and this is the older part with the huge courtrooms with marble, murals, and stain glass complete with a balcony level. I walked in and the secretary came out of the corner door (from her office) and greeted me and was very friendly and asked for my documents so she could make copies for the court. She noticed the ring my wife had given me and commented on how lovely it looked. She said not to be nervous, but we just have to go through certain legal motions and it will be over with in 30 minutes. Once we got started I was alone in this huge room with only the judge, secretary and clerk and it was recorded (both audio and video.) After I was sworn it, the judge asked me a few questions and she was pleasant to during the proceedings. For legal reasons she had to refer to me with male pronouns but apologized for having to do that, but switch the female pronouns as we continued and she got tripped up a few times where she was suppose to use male pronouns, and we have to redo the beginning because the recording equipment wasn't recording properly. I was surprised she asked my how long I had been on HRT and how long I had been living full-time. I answered truthfully and she was satisfied with my answers. The proceedings took about 10 minutes and it was done. Both the Judge and the secretary thanked me for being on time (as there was a big trial case they needed to prep the courtroom for) and wished me good luck. I waited for the signed documents from the judge and 30 days from today, I can legally use Sydney as my name. I still have to publish it in the paper, but that's it. On June 23rd, I'm going directly to DMV to get my new license. Just in time since my license expires on June 30th.
