Changing first name from nickname to official name

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Luvdogs

Recycles dryer sheets
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My husband came to the US as a kid in the 60's. His first name was unpronounceable and his family unofficially changed it to "John"at about age 7. He has gone by John all his life--college, drivers license, work, pension, 401K, brokerage, checking accounts--everything except his passport and SS card. He never officially changed it to John.

When he got his drivers license updated to Real ID a few years ago, he had to change it back to unpronounceable first name. Then he had to get his Medicare changed to unpronounceable first name. It wasn't as big of a mess as I thought it would be.

I wondered if it would be a problem filing our taxes but we continue to use John with no problem.

Thank you!

But our kids are concerned that once he/we kick the bucket, will there be a problem accessing their money? What name would a death certificate be under-John or unpronounceable first name? And if they don't match, then what?

I had mentioned it to our estate attorney and he either didn't know or didn't think it would be a problem (:confused:)

He hasn't tried to get credit or anything. The guy at SS told him he will not be able to get into college now (lol).

Anyone have any insight (other than get an opinion from another attorney?)

I really didn't think someone could arbitrarily change their name but no one noticed for about 60 years.
 
Look at how women legally change their last name after marriage. First name should be no different. You could also look at what a transgender person has to do to change their name, without the complication of changing gender. I don't think it's all that complicated.
 
The death certificate will have his SSN on it. The bank accounts will have his SSN (unless he predeceases you and you take ownership of them, in which case they will have your SSN and your kids won't have to worry about it). A non-matching first name on the death cert shouldn't matter since the SSNs will match and there's a perfectly common and ordinary explanation for the different first names.
 
IANAL. Although I have not been in that situation, my understanding is that one can use any name they choose as long as it is not to intentionally defraud. That said, it is a good question. So long as the will/trusts name them, the money in the trust goes to them. If the will mentions them by their names the same result. TOD and POD would simply go to the named people in those documents. Joint accounts WROS also go directly to the joint owner. Now if the death certificate uses on 1st name and the accounts say the other, I don't know how a financial company can accept that as proof of death. Could it be as simple as now publishing a "legal notice" that Unpronounceable" is also "John"? Might be time to ask an attorney.
 
Thanks for all the replies.
Appears it is not as difficult/complicated as I was thinking.
 
Another way to go is to have him legally change his name to John.

People around here do it all of the time for various reasons. I think it's just a few hundred dollars for a lawyer, publishing notice in the paper, and then waiting for a short period of time.

Then change all of the accounts with unpronounceable first name to John. That way everything matches and unpronounceable first name becomes a historical footnote.
 
SecondCor521 said:
Another way to go is to have him legally change his name to John.

People around here do it all of the time for various reasons. I think it's just a few hundred dollars for a lawyer, publishing notice in the paper, and then waiting for a short period of time.

Then change all of the accounts with unpronounceable first name to John. That way everything matches and unpronounceable first name becomes a historical footnote.
Click to expand...

That’s what I would do. I’m not sure how it gets done, but people change their name all the time. It can’t be that difficult and it would clean everything up.
 
In the 70’s my godmother decided to get a passport, so she could travel internationally (she was born in 1936).

When she ordered a copy of her birth certificate, it said “Baby Girl” Smith. Her parents hadn’t decided on a name when they left the hospital so that’s how her birth certificate got filed. She just had to make a petition to the court to change her legal name from “Baby Girl” to Mary. It wasn’t difficult, just filing of papers I believe.
 
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I don't know how she got away with it for 93 years, but the ONLY place where my mom's birth name (Mary-Ann) exists is on her birth certificate. She has gone by a different first name all her life including SS, driver's license, passport and everything else.

The name she uses isn't even close to her birth first name. When we want to tease her we call her by her real first name.
 
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I had my name legally changed in 2017 so that my driver's license, passport, SS card and TSA pre-check would match. (It would take too long to explain why I needed to do this).

I paid, I think, $170 for a county judge to review and approve my application. The whole process took about 6 weeks.

I have two male cousins who legally changed their last names. One had always hated his surname, and changed it to a different family name. The other wanted to take his wife's surname, which he preferred to his own, but in a strange case of sexism, this wasn't allowed.

Jerry1 said:
That’s what I would do. I’m not sure how it gets done, but people change their name all the time. It can’t be that difficult and it would clean everything up.
Click to expand...
 
Whatever name he picks, best to go with one across the board on all things official. And yes, women deal with this all the time, marriage, divorce, etc., nbd.
 
Luvdogs said:
...Anyone have any insight (other than get an opinion from another attorney?)

I really didn't think someone could arbitrarily change their name but no one noticed for about 60 years.
Click to expand...

My dad ran into the same thing. He was born in the US but the Jean-Louis name on his birth certificate reflected his French Canadian heritage. His entire life he used the Americanized version... John Louis. That was on his drivers license, deeds, contacts, etc ... pretty much everything but his birth certificate.

When was in college, he would have been in his mid-40s and he went to court and had it officially changed to John Louis. My impression is that it was not at all a big deal to get it changed.

Of course, this was all before Real ID and all that stuff so I think it would be best to officially change it to what he prefers to use.
 
DH mother changed his name when he was 4, after his Father died (reason unknown, and he was always called by his birth name in the family, but had to use legal name at school) Weird for him.
After we got married, I pushed him to change his name back to his birth name, as he always wanted. Simple process via State Health records Dept., then SS and new drivers license.
It was not a big deal, at the time.
 
marko said:
I don't know how she got away with it for 93 years, but the ONLY place where my mom's birth name (Mary-Ann) exists is on her birth certificate. She has gone by a different first name all her life including SS, driver's license, passport and everything else.

The name she uses isn't even close to her birth first name. When we want to tease her we call her by her real first name.
Click to expand...

....so she's been going by "Ginger"? :LOL:
 
I went back to my original last name after divorce. Or so I thought!
Everywhere used my current last name except social security.
Around 2018-in preparation for retirement I went in to get name changed on their records.
Apparently the judge did not check the return to original last name box. I had to pay $50 or so to get it amended and filed. I submitted the paperwork to SSA and it’s been fixed ever since then.
I’m glad I did that before Covid.

I agree he should just change his name to what he wants. It shouldn’t be too complicated.
 
I would suggest going down to the nearest courthouse of general jurisdiction and ask for the pro se department. Inquire whether they have forms to submit in support of a petition for a name change.
 
Yes, that's what I did. Certified copies of the approved name change order were needed in order to get a new passport and driver's license in my official new name (which I'd been using for years at work, on bank accounts, etc).

When we moved, I brought a certified copy of the name change order with me, so I don't need to order one from the old courthouse, should I ever need one.

MarieIG said:
I would suggest going down to the nearest courthouse of general jurisdiction and ask for the pro se department. Inquire whether they have forms to submit in support of a petition for a name change.
Click to expand...
 
As others mentioned - it's not a big deal. MIL's birth cert was Maria. Additionally they misspelled her last name. She went by Mary, her state ID (she didn't drive) was Mary, her marriage certificate was Mary. Her passport was Mary. Her SS is Mary. It was only an issue using her heritage for hubster's juris sanguinis application for Italian dual citizenship. The Mary/Maria thing would probably have been ok. But the misspelled last name on her birth certificate was a deal breaker. (Fortunately, hubby qualified on his dad's side as well.)

Similarly hubby's paternal grandmother was born and married in Italy as Sebastiana. Her SS and naturalization papers were Bessy. Her death cert was Bessy. Her husband was Lucio on all the official documents accept his death cert - which was Louis.

My dad was born Richard. When his stepdad adopted him, they put the name Peter (which is what he went by) on the adoption paperwork... That was his legal name change.
 
RunningBum said:
Look at how women legally change their last name after marriage. First name should be no different. You could also look at what a transgender person has to do to change their name, without the complication of changing gender. I don't think it's all that complicated.
Click to expand...

Just my 2 cents. You used the word "legally". She used the word "unofficially".

Mike
 
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