Santa Clarita Divorce | Requesting Name Change During Divorce

When you file for divorce one of the choices you will be able to make is whether or not you want to go back to your former name. This is part of the divorce petition (FL–100) and you simply indicate that you would like the court to order that your maiden name be restored.

What is nice about this is that you won’t have to go through a legal name change process down the road if you later decide to go back to your former name.

And keep in mind that you don’t have to change your name the minute the divorce becomes final.  You could hold on and say wait until your children are grown and out of school to do so.  Just make sure to keep a copy of your judgment so when you are ready to change your name you have the necessary paperwork to do so.

Also, I wrote about the changing your name with Social Security and the possibility that they might require a certified copy.  If you are going to wait to do the name change for several years and know you will most likely change your name down the  road, it would be a good idea to get a certified copy now before your case sits to long and is placed in archives.

Santa Clarita Divorce | Changing Name With Social Security After Divorce

When you go through the divorce process, one of the options you will have is whether or not you want to change back to your former maiden name after the divorce.

The benefit of having your name converted back during the divorce is that you can use the divorce judgment as evidence of the name change which will make it easier when you go to change it with such places as the Social Security Administration.

The reason we are discussing this is because we recently had a client who said she had a problem when trying to change her name with the Social Security office.

What she reported is that the SSA office she went to were asking for a certified copy of the divorce judgment.  I was surprised to here this because over the last 4 to 5 years doing this I have never heard anyone having a problem changing their name with the Social Security office.

The issues was that this employee of the SSA was asking for a certified copy of the judgment.  The short story was our client went to Social Security, took time from work and then was turned away.  She was frustrated that they would not accept the judgment as is.

I had explained to our client that this has never been an issue and that the court does not issue certified copies of the divorce judgment when the divorce case is finished.

So i did a little research and came across the Social Security Website where is discusses what you need to make a change to your name with Social Security.  What i found it to say is that the only time you need a certified copy of anything is when producing documents and requesting an original Social Security card for the first time

Nowhere does it say you need a certified copy of your judgment when changing your name after a divorce.  You can click here on this link to be directed to the Social Security website that discusses this issue.

In any event, i think it is wise to contact your local Social Security office you will be going to so you can verify their requirements prior to taking time off of work so you are not turned away once you are there.