Any Advice on Name Change and Time-Barred Debt?

[NorthernUrbanChick]

Hullo everyone,

I'm a trans woman in her late 30s, and I've been out and living as myself publicly in all respects save one for several years, but I have not changed my name yet. Every time I get a new job, I have to explain to my bosses that I haven't changed my name - yet - but I never get around to actually doing it. The reason why is that I have an Anxiety disorder and distrust of authority and I am deeply afraid of making a mistake and getting into legal trouble.

The crux of my problem is this: When I was in my late teens, early 20s, I was stupid bad with money. I had a lot of small unpaid debt here and there (Blockbuster late fees, old Utility balances, an emergency room visit, etc.) because I was moving from college to college and state to state all the time for a while, and I came from a privileged background and there didn't seem to be any consequences to running up debt - my parents had been doing it for years. I always meant to pay my bills right away, but then I'd get behind, and then more behind, and then more... My financial situation got worse and worse, I moved back in with my parents, then they threw me out when they discovered I was secretly considering transitioning, and I was homeless for a while.

Flash forward to now, 15-20 years later, I've finally finished school, I came to grips with being trans and actually transitioned, I'm finally starting to get on top of the whole money thing. I have a stressful job that pays me just under 30,000 a year, and I'm starting to make some money on the side doing what I actually love: writing. I'm breaking even right now, and my partner and I have hopes of moving into a better place soon.

I want to change my name, and I'm totally prepared for the onerous task of informing all of my current creditors about it, and I'm glad that it will eventually mean that my credit reports get updated with my new name, but I keep holding back because of my past financial mistakes: although all of the debt from my twenties is time-barred now (meaning they can't legally sue me for it anymore), and I haven't heard from them in 10+ years, I know that old debts usually don't just 'evaporate.' I got debt-cancellation paperwork for one debt, but I assume there are still at least ~some~ creditors out there with old debt for me still. The debt management people I've contacted told me NOT to contact my old creditors (because giving them my new name and address could constitute 'reaffirming my intent to pay' the debt, which would restart the statute of limitations and allow them to sue me if they wanted to) and I don't even remember or have paperwork for all of them now. But if I don't contact them and tell them I've changed my name, can I get in legal trouble?

That's what I'm afraid of. Terrified actually, enough to keep me from changing my name for years and years.

I mean, obviously I wouldn't be changing my name to AVOID debt. I didn't go through years of transition and get kicked out of my home and disowned by my family to avoid a few thousand dollars in old debt that I haven't seen paperwork on in years and can't legally be sued for anymore anyway. And I'd be delighted if my old creditors discovered through the credit bureaus that I changed my name and sent me a bill in my new name for me to pay -- I'd be happy to pay them, slowly, over time, one at a time. But I can't afford to call them all up on the phone right now (even if I knew how to call them all) and run the risk of being sued for a bunch of money if I say 'well, no, I can't pay the debt outright, but can we work something out?' And even if I had a bunch of money sitting around that I could throw at old debt and interest fees right now, I don't have a full list of all of my old creditors, and some of the companies I did owe money to no longer seem to exist. Who owns the debt now? And what if I owe money to someone and don't even know that I do? I missed a lot of mail in my early twenties during all my moving around and the homelessness, and found out about a lot of the debts that I owed years later. What if I missed something completely?

I'm just hoping someone out there has some advice for me on how to handle this situation. Surely I can't be the only trans person who made a bunch of financial mistakes 10-20 years ago and doesn't have a handle on how to deal with it all anymore. Cis women who get married and change their names in their late 30s and 40s must deal with this kind of thing all the time, right? Am I running a major legal risk of being accused of fraud or something if I change my name and don't every single creditor? Even if the debt is time-barred and they can't sue me for it now? Or would it be enough to contact all the creditors that I owe money to NOW and wait for the credit reports to update with my new name and see if any of my old creditors contact me?

Thanks for any and all input. I really want to change my name, I'm just also terrified of making a legal mistake.

[epvanbeveren]

You're not alone with financial hardship, whether by own fault or bad luck. I also had not so good credit in the past, luckily that's changed now.

Anyway in the USA everyone has a social security number. This number will never change, just the name and gender attached to it.

So no matter how often you change your name, they (bill collectors) will always find you. You can not get out of paying your debt. Even the IRS. If you owe the IRS as well bad thing is they will still use your dead name, the name that was filed on the year you filed taxes that you owe.

Bill collectors, court orders, garnishments... they all will show up and might be in your dead or new name.

As far as I know there is no legal issue. However if you have criminal records with the court, then yes it can de difficult, but that depends on the country, and judge, you are residing.

Hope this will help for the time being...

Hugs.

[Arianna Valentine]

To be completely honest with you I start I changed my name before I even started hormone and it was life changing to me I mean this was me being who I am and taking that first step for me forward also as far as criminal you still have to have your name Change approval signed off on by a judge and as long as you report your name change and have it changed in their records to the proper people it's really not much of an issue of imagine

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[Dena]

Welcome to Susan's Place. First you need to watch out for the credit repair places because some are there to help you and others are there to help themselves to your money. I used to have a list of the good ones but unfortunately that was years ago and the list has been lost with time. That said, the first place you should start out with is Annual Credit Report. It will tell you everything that has been reported on you so you will know where you stand. The records are very detail and in my case, they date back to when I obtained my first credit card about 1982.

When you go for your name change, you may be asked if you changing your name to avoid debt. I am not sure if you can properly respond to that if your not in contact with those who you owe money to. You can change your name as long as your making an effort to repay your debts. Some of your paperwork can be altered without a court order but things like your birth certificate will require a court order so ask and see what you can change just by requesting it.

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[Northern Star Girl]

@NorthernUrbanChick
    Hello NorthernUrbanChick,  Thank you for your first posting here at Susan's Place.

PLEASE KNOW that I am not trying to hijack your thread but I see that you had just become a member of Susan's Place.   I see that our member @Dena  has already officially welcomed you.   Please allow me also give you my warm Welcome.

I am glad that you have become a member of Susan's Place and that you have shared your first thoughts with other members that may read your posting.
I am thinking that you may lots more questions and concerns, this is the right place for you to be to find out what others have done that may have been in your circumstances.
 
Be aware that there are a lot of members here that can identify with what you may be going through.
You will find this a safe and friendly place to share with others  and to read about others similar trials, tribulations, and successes.
It is nice that you had signed up so you can share with others and involve yourself with some give and take with other members.
When frustrated or if you have successes you can share it here if you wish and receive support from others and offer support to others. ....

***It's a very good chance that you might find that you will make some new friends here. 

Please come in and continue to be involved at your own pace. 

Below the welcome message that @Dena has just given to you, she included Important LINKS that will tell you about Susan's Place.  Included there is information about the site that will help you navigate around and best utilize the features here.   
Please look closely at the LINKS in RED, there answers there to many questions that new members ask.
Again, Welcome to Susan's Place.
Danielle

[Northern Star Girl]

@NorthernUrbanChick     
Oh, and another thing NorthernUrbanChick ... to let more members here on the Forums know of your arrival and therefore you will receive more involvement in sharing information of interest with you and other like-minded  members reading it will be more apt to share their thoughts with you.

If you would, please go to the  Introductions Forum  to tell the members about yourself!  You should include a summary of the key information that you wrote in your first posting here.

Wishing you well,
Danielle

[Sydney_NYC]

4 years prior to my name change I was involved in a family business where a family member left me with $500k in company debt plus $120k in unpaid payroll taxes after the business closed for a company where I was president only on paper. (Long story short, the bookkeeper was a family members girlfriend and left the country after the discovery of the unpaid payroll taxes!!) 2 years prior to my name change I declared personal bankruptcy to clear myself of all the dept with the exception of the IRS taxes that could not be written off in bankruptcy.

With all of that, I was able to successfully change my name 2 years after the bankruptcy. The judge didn't care about the IRS at all since the IRS is automatically notified with Social Security reports the name change to them. I only needed to prove that the bankruptcy discharge which I provided, and she had no issues since I disclosed everything.

With the exception of taxes, any debt over 5 years old (no money has been collected in 5 years or more) can't be collected against you as the statue of limitations has past and they can't sue you. (IRS is 10 years total even with payments made.) Changing your name has zero effect on you and those debts fall off your credit report after 7 years from the latest activity so you can safely ignore those. Don't contact them and if they contact you, simply tell them that the statue of limitation has past and there is no legal obligation of paying them off. At this point, the original debtor has written them off and if you did pay any money, the debt collector is getting the money, not the original creditor. They don't need to be notified of your name change as they are no longer reporting to the credit agencies.

Even if you owe money for active debts under 5 years old, you can still legally change your name. Anything that is current (being paid on time with no active collections) doesn't even need to be brought up in the name change paperwork, but anything pending judgments will require you to notify them of you pending name change and the judge for the name change will most likely require proof of it. Also, any pending or active civil lawsuit, criminal charges, probation, judgments against you, will require you to notify the courts of your name change. (Note that some states will not allow a name change during pending criminal cases.)