Name change in Massachusetts question - I know YANML

June 25, 2024 2:18 AM

I was born in Rhode Island but reside in Massachusetts; I've been going by, let's say, "Bart Simpson" my whole life (obviously not my real name for privacy's sake). Long story short, my driver's license and pretty much everything under my name are under "Bart Simpson" - however, my birth certificate says the equivalent of "BORT Simpson" (one letter off in my first name). I am trying to get my first name (and nothing else) changed to "BART" to match the name I've used for literally everything else in my life. However, the fact that I've never used my "legal" name "BORT" for anything seems to complicate things...

Mass.gov states "Sign the Petition to Change of Name Adult (CJP 27) in the presence of a Notary Public (an official who is commissioned by the state to witness documents). To sign in the presence of a notary, you are required to provide photo identification. If your photo identification has a name that does not match your legal name, you may use a Motion (CJD 400) to ask the Court to waive the notarization requirement." So, since I've only used "Bart" and never "Bort" on any photo ID, I guess I'd have to fill out the CJD 400 form? The link to the CJD 400 form is here, but I don't know how I would complete this as I don't have a docket number. I just don't want to fill it out improperly and have it rejected. Once again, I know you are not my lawyer, but does anyone have any experience with this process, especially in Massachusetts? Any help would be appreciated!

posted by anonymous to Law & Government (11 answers total)

If I’m understanding correctly your goal is to have your birth certificate changed from Bort to Bart. If that’s the case I believe you’d need to follow Rhode Island’s process rather than Massachusetts’, since birth certificates typically remain the domain of the state where they were issued.

It’s not clear to me if “Bort” was a typo on your BC or if this is an intentional change; if it’s the former you might be best served reaching out to the RI Dept of Vital Records and asking them how to proceed, because you’ll run into the same challenges you’ve already noted otherwise - you can’t prove it’s you.
posted by okayokayigive at 3:35 AM on June 25 [3 favorites]

When you say, "my whole life" do you mean, like, that's how your parents spelled your name and what is on your elementary school report cards, etc.? Because that definitely sounds like a birth certificate error that should be corrected rather than a name change. If your parents are alive and cooperative, it will probably be easier to do this with their help.
posted by mskyle at 4:24 AM on June 25 [2 favorites]

I also think you probably need to go through Rhode Island. The website says that you can file in the probate court and then use that to amend your birth certificate. But honestly, I think it might be worth spending on a consultation with a lawyer. It's not a very common situation and so it will be hard to work out exactly how to proceed yourself.
posted by plonkee at 5:28 AM on June 25

I’m not sure if it’s possible to reply to others’ comments anonymously on an anonymous thread, so I may as well just go ahead and say that I am the OP. Yes, the situation is exactly as mskyle describes. My school report cards all say “Bart”. I even found a newspaper article from when I was four years old, describing a children’s event at my church where I was one of the kids attending…and sure enough, it’s “Bart” (and it has my picture, though obviously I don’t think childhood photos count for anything to a court). It even mentions my father, though it refers to him by a nickname.
posted by Seeking Direction at 5:54 AM on June 25 [1 favorite]

I think this should be pretty easy. Am I right in assuming that the birth certificate is just incorrect? If so, it's ten bucks in Rhode Island, and it looks like you can do it by mail, though personally I'd go there to the actual hall of records. I would also call first and get to a human to explain the situation. I think a lawyer is overkill.

My son's NC birth certificate said (date changed) March 23, 2007, but in about 2015 his grandmother forward me an old email I'd sent announcing the birth on March 22. I requested hospital records and sure enough all 20-30 pages of records said the 22nd. Once I had those I just got the correct forms, went to the records office and changed it. And this was *much* more complicated than a 1 letter name change because I had to get the school system and a couple of other places to change it to the 22nd. You've got an easy road by comparison! Most public servants are going to immediately grasp the issue and slam dunk it through.
posted by caviar2d2 at 6:50 AM on June 25 [8 favorites]

I'm on my phone and commenting quickly, but phone the Department of Vital Statistics (or whoever keeps birth certificates) in Rhode Island. There may be an "administrative" process or you may need to get a (preferably) Rhode Island court order.

This is just random trans person trivia based in Minnesota (which has no bearing on RI, to be clear, just an example of how it works)--in MN, judges are specifically empowered to change birth certificates found to be 'in error' (this was the de facto AFAB route to changing MN birth certificates for years). It's a weird edge case, so you'll probably want to talk to the court's self-help center or legal aid or something if you need to go to court and want to DIY it, but in my (again MN) experience it is something the law has realized happens. (Then again, I had a school friend whose family did a legal name change to sort out an immigration name mixup, but they had been using the misspelled name.)
posted by hoyland at 7:01 AM on June 25

Oh, and if you do have to go the name change route, definitely call or go to the court and ask for help. Name changes are firmly in the "things you can DIY" category. Court staff can't advise, but they can tell you what the form means or how to get the information it asks form. There may be a specific self-help center/hours or you can ask at the filing window where/who to ask.
posted by hoyland at 7:05 AM on June 25 [1 favorite]

Get a copy of your current birth certificate. Go to the DMV and tell them there is typo on your DL. Have them issue a new DL with the spelling that matches the certificate.

Take new DL to court, petition for name change, go back to DMV and get new corrected license.

Sorry if this feels like one of those logic puzzles where you have to get a lion, a gazelle, and a cabbage across a lake two at a time, but I do think it will work.
posted by ananci at 7:09 AM on June 25 [1 favorite]

So I've been in a weird name change situation in Massachusetts, but not this particular weird name change situation. My advice is to call the probate court where you would be filing this name change and ask them what to do before you hire a lawyer or something like that. They would certainly be able to help with filling out the motion. The people at the Hampshire County court were very helpful when I was going through my name change mess.
posted by Shellybeans at 7:18 AM on June 25

I’m not sure if it’s possible to reply to others’ comments anonymously on an anonymous thread

For future reference, you can use the Contact Form to ask the Mods to post an anonymous comment for you. There may be some time delay in the comment appearing, because it requires manual intervention.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 7:44 AM on June 25 [2 favorites]

It sounds like this is "I'd like to correct a typo on my birth certificate" rather than "I'd like to change my name". Since you have many legal government docs already with the name you use, spelled the way you spell it. Here's a website, built to help trans Rhode Islanders vote, that details how to update the name on your RI birth certificate. They list the contact info (name, email, and phone) for the person in the RI Office of Vital Records who is responsible for updating BC's. I think a 10min phone call with that person would be the best place to start, and would hopefully go a long way toward getting this sorted out.
posted by hovey at 8:39 AM on June 25 [8 favorites]