Taking the “Service” out of “County Service Center”
If you’re getting married and you and your spouse-to-be want to change your names to something else entirely, you can do that, but don’t bother trying it in Hennepin County. Word on the street says:
The marriage statute is specifically worded to allow you to have a unique surname/name-change, but the Hennepin County service counters have an internal policy to only allow logical derivatives of the pre-married name(s).
Dicks.
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Hey, that’s my post! ;)
The saga continues: my fiance called the Ridgedale Service Center yesterday, where he was told that the Hennepin County District Attorney won some judgment or other that allowed them to do things differently in Hennepin County (I have no idea why, but I’m sure it makes them richer). The clerks in Hennepin County can say that it can’t be done, but can’t mention that you CAN do it in neighboring counties. As it stands now, we’re waiting for our contact at Ridgedale to get in touch with the people who could authorize a refund for us. There is hope!
Yup, I tried to change my name to my mother’s maiden name when I married. The clerk took my paperwork, then a supervisor vetoed it, even after I pointed out that it wasn’t illegal.
Henn. Cty is using their internal policy to restrict name changes. And, as already mentioned, the clerks are practically forbade from telling you that you can file in a neighboring county and get the name you want.
If you want to get your name changed, you need to go through the lengthy court process to have your name changed. It certainly is a revenue generator because you not only need to spend money to file the paperwork, you have to make a court appearance and some folks would want to retain an attorney to help with the piles of forms and backup documentation required.
Good news! We got a refund from the Ridgedale folks and are now free to visit another, less oppressive county for our marriage license. It took several days and many phone calls, but it’s worth it.