Friday, July 06, 2007
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Current mood: ecstatic
Here's my update on the name change. Well, to make a long story short, it was approved! Yay! But to keep a long story long...
First, I went to Port Jefferson to get a certified copy of my birth certificate. The man behind the counter looked at me for a second when I gave him my (male) license. He seemed to be quite gay to me though, so I'm sure it didn't phase him. (LOL!) $10 and it was mine.
The rest was all done in Riverhead, which was pretty convenient for me. I had to go to the Office of the County Clerk to purchase an index number. That was $210 (up from $205 last year, when I got one for my divorce). Then I took all the papers over to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court I went to was demolished, so that got me a little panicky. But they pointed me to the new one. The clerk who took the papers from me actually made some changes for my benefit. The forms I found online were old. The new ones are gender neutral. Whenever something referred to my old name, I circled "he" because it had to do with a male name. He scratched that out & put "petitioner." That was pretty awesome. I really appreciated it.
I got the forms notarized right in the same building, and went upstairs to see "Fran." Fran looked the forms over and sent me over the Criminal Court building. It just so happens that Judge John J. Jones, Jr. is located in that building for some reason. Maybe all the J's were freaking the Supreme Court out for some strange reason. Unfortunately, I had to wait an hour and a half because they had already broke for lunch. I bought some Combo's at their snack shop, talked to Nikki on the payphone, and read my book.
Once they were back, I gave the judge the papers. He said, "This will just take a few minutes." He left the room & then came back. He was on a computer terminal next to the judge's chair. There was one part that scared me where he shook his head and sighed. But then he continued what he was doing. Then he gave me back the papers and said, "You can go back to Supreme Court now, and they'll finish processing the paperwork." No questions or anything! I looked at the order and yes, he had signed it! Damn, that was easy!
I went back to see Fran, and she made copies of everything. She was also on her computer for a bit. Then she sent me back to the Office of the County Clerk. They gave me a certified copy of the order, and directions to Suffolk Life (also in Riverhead). I paid Suffolk Life $10 to run the ad in their July 4th edition. Unfortunately, I think you need the Selden edition. I'm still trying to track that down. Maybe my parents have it (without them having read it!).
What happens now that the ad has run (hopefully)? Suffolk Life is sending me a document stating that the ad has been posted. I'm supposed to take this back down to the Office of the County Clerk, and then I'm done. My name will legally be Amy! They'll give me certified copies of a document stating my name has been changed. Then I'll go down to the DMV and change my license, title and registration. Then it's off to Social Security to change my social security card. I'll be doing all of this a week from today. I can't wait to finally get all these things changed. Then people can stop looking at me like I have two heads when I give them a male name or show them my license. I'll post again at some point to tell all of you how it went. I thank all of you who responded on my last blog. I really appreciate that.
Big Girls Don't Cry
By Fergie
Release date: 16 July, 2007
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