Legal Process

[Ryan Thunder]

I’ve been thinking about the legal name and gender marker change process lately, and it seems quite straight forward. The only thing that makes me drag my feet about it is going through the process of changing everything else (vehicle insurance, passport, and more specifically banking information). My bank branch is in my hometown, and I know I can change branch numbers to one in the city, but my current branch has been so good to me in regards to my money and making sure I have the best interest set up, etc. I’m afraid of going in there with my paperwork to get them to change the name on my account since it’s a place where everyone knows everyone. Is it possible to do it at any branch, or do I have to go through the branch where my account is? I’m in Canada if there’s a different process than in the US.

Or if anyone could give their experiences with going through the legal process. Was there anything that was annoying to get changed, or anything that didn’t cause any issues? Or tips when going through the legal process.

[Aubrey Kirk]

I am in the US so I am sure it is different for you than it was for me. Each state here even has different requirements.  I live in Washington State and it was quite simple to change my name. I went when the court first opened and filled out the paperwork and paid my fees. I was able to get into the first court session of the day with all the criminals. The judge took my case first and asked me about five questions and signed the order for my name change.  Went back to the clerk’s window and she gave me a bunch of copies for the name change order.  Took all of about an hour to complete.

You are right the changing of all the documents is the real pain and took me about two months to complete it all.  Usually, as far as banks are concerned as long as it’s the same bank, it doesn’t really matter where you go to change your name.  You just need the correct documents that they require to process the name change.  In my case, I couldn’t change my name on my bank accounts until I had my social security card with my new name on it.  They didn’t care that I had a judge’s order to change my name.

As I was going to DOL to get my driver’s license and registration changed on my car, I never gave it a thought that I now had a feminine name on my license and no one there even questioned it. At least to me anyway. Who knows if they said anything after I left.

It’s just a time-consuming process but overall I never found it hard to do. I just spent an hour or so a day working on it.  Each entity had its own requirements on what documentation they needed to make the name change.

 

[Michelle Lawson]

Ryan, I live in the US and got my signed court papers for my name change a week ago on Nov 1st. Now begins the arduous task of changing all the little things. I’m sure things are somewhat different in Canada, but you will need to make the same kinds of similar things. And it seems to be somewhat of a serial process for the US until you get social security and drivers license changes done. Then you can do stuff in parallel. Good luck, and keep us posted on how things go. Michelle

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