Hi,

I need help figuring out how to get a court order to update my birth certificate. First, what I know:

1.) I know how to update my name, totally got that down pat.
2.) I know there is a form my doctor needs to fill out to indicate I have experienced "permanent and irreversible changes" as part of my transition that will allow me to update my I.D. Gender marker.

What I don't know:

How to file my name change, and include that I want my gender marker updated as well. There are no forms for this, but my research has indicated it is possible--my call to an attorney confirmed it, but she wanted $600 to put together the forms and tell me how to do everything else on my own... That's kind of ridiculous... I could buy a lot of MAC Cosmetics with that much money.

So, if anyone is able to help, I REALLY could use it. I need to know how to file for my name change AND gender marker change together in the state of Indiana.

Sincerely,
Lindsey

Your attorney tried to rip you off (to be fair, that's totally normal practice and doesn't imply that they're corrupt)

I googled "indiana birth certificate gender change" and got this:

http://indianatransgendernetwork.com/resources/legal/changing-name-gender-markers-legal-documents/

... which links directly to the court's webpage.

http://www.in.gov/judiciary/selfservice/2338.htm

I'm currently going through this in Indiana as well.

I had my name change granted on Feb. 1, so that's complete and I've changed records with SSA and the DMV.  You can find the form letter for gender marker change with the DMV on their website.  All I did was print it and take it to my doctors office, they filled it out and I took that to the license branch and had both name and gender marker changed at the same time.  You'll need the letter from social security proving that you've already been there with you as well.

I'm doing my BC this week and the rules are really fuzzy on this one.  I'm hoping that if I show up with the same form from my doctors' office and updated DL they will go ahead and change it for me.  I wasn't able to find any information about how to file for a legal gender marker change via court order so I haven't pursued that any further until I find out whether or not this will work. 

I do know of someone who went to get their BC info updated and when they saw them they assumed that the gender marker was a mistake and just changed it on sight.  That's probably rare but I know of at least one time it has happened!

I'll post an update once I go to have the birth cert updated as to how it went.

Quote from: Emjay on February 22, 2016, 06:38:53 PM
I'm currently going through this in Indiana as well.

I had my name change granted on Feb. 1, so that's complete and I've changed records with SSA and the DMV.  You can find the form letter for gender marker change with the DMV on their website.  All I did was print it and take it to my doctors office, they filled it out and I took that to the license branch and had both name and gender marker changed at the same time.  You'll need the letter from social security proving that you've already been there with you as well.

I'm doing my BC this week and the rules are really fuzzy on this one.  I'm hoping that if I show up with the same form from my doctors' office and updated DL they will go ahead and change it for me.  I wasn't able to find any information about how to file for a legal gender marker change via court order so I haven't pursued that any further until I find out whether or not this will work. 

I do know of someone who went to get their BC info updated and when they saw them they assumed that the gender marker was a mistake and just changed it on sight.  That's probably rare but I know of at least one time it has happened!

I'll post an update once I go to have the birth cert updated as to how it went.

Thank you so much for your reply! I have all the pieces to this puzzle, EXCEPT how to actual get the birth certificate updated! All my research indicates it will take a court order, but there's literally NO information on how to obtain such an order... So please do give an update when you do this because I really need to know! I'd rather not spend $600 for an attorney just to tell me something stupid and simple that I could have figured out myself.

The Wiki has a lot of information, and also cautions residents of Indiana that they should use an attorney. https://www.susans.org/wiki/Category:Documentation_changes

There is a number on the bottom of this page that may help. http://www.in.gov/isdh/26808.html

Let us know how it goes, we may be able to help the next person! 

Hugs, Devlyn

I had hoped to go and try to get this done today but I got hung up at work and couldn't make it, I'll definitely post an update when I do and let you know how it went.

You're right, everything I've been able to find also states that you have to have a court order but there is literally zero information on how to go about obtaining one for recognition of a gender change in Indiana.  I'll still give it a shot with what I have, it seems odd to me that the DMV will accept an affidavit from my doctor but not the health department.  Most of the online info is a little old and from what I understand the DMV only recently updated their policy on this so I'm hoping the health department has too.  We'll see.

At the very least, I'll have the name updated since I do have that court order in hand. 

So......  for my long awaited update:  I finally made it to MCHD today to get my birth certificate updated and ended up getting absolutely nothing done. 

The hold up for me was that when I was approximately 1 year old my mother re-married and my then step-father adopted me which triggered a last name change.  Apparently when that happens in Indiana you cannot get further updates to your birth certificate done at a county office........... EVER!  I have to go through the states' office rather than county and they don't have an office that is open to the public.   Soooooooo I will have to do everything via telephone/email/mail from here on out, which sucks. 

As far as gender marker change, they did confirm that my doctor's signed affidavit that I used to change my drivers' license was not sufficient and that I will, indeed, have to get another court order declaring my gender change to get this done on my birth certificate though they were unable to give me any information as to who to contact or how to begin this process.  From here my best guess is to contact the county clerks' office and ask them for information on what/how to file for this.

Sorry I don't have better news but I suppose I know more now than I did this morning.