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..birth certificate has one name....ss # has stepdads name....lost my CA license and Nevada won't accept paper copy so I need adoption papers...searched and looks like stepdad never legally adopted me.....this is a nightmare
Do I have to have my legal name changed to the name I have been going by for 47 years???
this is government redtape and nonsense at it's finest
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You can try contacting CA and have them give you a copy of your CA. licence , then just transfer it to a Nevada licence. Or try to find the paperwork that you used to get you CA liance , all states take a variety and similar fed documents as well as state ID
Let's assume that your original birth certificate (OBC), the one issued right after your biological mother gave birth, says that you are John Jones. It would also list the name of your mother and, if known, your biological father.
Normally, if the rights of your biological father were terminated and you were legally adopted by your stepfather, your adoptive family would get a new birth certificate for you, that lists the name by which you will be known henceforth, such as John Smith, if you took your stepfather's name. It also lists your adoptive father as your Dad.. That is the document that would be used for registering you at school and so on.
In addition, your adoptive family would change your name on your Social Security card to John Smith, showing a copy of your adoption decree and new birth certificate.
It seems to me that, if your stepfather's name is on your Social Security card, you probably WERE legally adopted. Social Security is pretty careful about requesting proof of adoption before it changes your card from your birth name to your adoptive name. So you may just be missing a new birth certificate. If you have a copy of your adoption decree or can get one from your adoptive family, you can take it to Vital Records, along with your OBC, and get a new birth certificate, with the name, John Smith, on it. If you don't have your adoption decree, you can petition the court to unseal the original adoption decree and get a copy that way. It probably will include language changing your name so that you have your adoptive parents' last name.
Now, if you were not legally adopted by your stepfather, and simply took the last name of the man raising you informally, you may be able to go to court and request an official change to that name. Most states have a mechanism for changing your legal name. Rock stars do it all the time -- changing a birth name to Snoop Doggy Dogg or something, because they don't think that their original name is cool enough. All you need to prove, in most cases, is that you are not using the legal name change to evade your debts or to mislead or defraud people. If you have been using the name, John Smith, for many years, and it's on your bills and your lease and whatever, that should not be a problem. In most cases, doing a legal name change does not require use of an attorney, and is not expensive.
I would recommend, henceforth, that you make sure that all legal documents about you match. Otherwise, you may have all kinds of trouble when you try to get certain jobs, to travel overseas, and so on. Single women get their documents changed all the time, if they marry and want to take their husband's surname. They know that, if all their documents don't match, officials in the U.S. and overseas might assume that there is something "fishy".
Sharon
Last update on August 11, 3:27 pm by Sharon Kaufman.