Rant: changing name after marriage

[tapiocapudding]

I got married back in January and I still haven’t changed my name on most of my documents. Mostly because I don’t drive and therefore don’t have a license to use as photo ID. The bank requires 2 pieces of photo ID and won’t take my Ontario health card. So I can’t change my name at the bank and I’m accumulating quite the nice pile of cheques I can’t cash . Changing my name on my passport requires 2 references and one guarantor to vouch for my identity. Why do they have to make it so difficult?

 

[BeeSweet]

You can’t use your old IDs to cash your checks?

Here in Texas, you can go to the drivers license office and get a state ID card with a picture. Is there an option like that for you in Canada?

 

[Ghoti]

I got married back in January and I still haven’t changed my name on most of my documents. Mostly because I don’t drive and therefore don’t have a license to use as photo ID. The bank requires 2 pieces of photo ID and won’t take my Ontario health card. So I can’t change my name at the bank and I’m accumulating quite the nice pile of cheques I can’t cash . Changing my name on my passport requires 2 references and one guarantor to vouch for my identity. Why do they have to make it so difficult?

When I lived in Newfoundland, I got a “driver’s licence” as a form of ID. I paid my fee, presented two pieces of ID (my military ID and my baptismal certificate, IIRC), got my photo taken, and (as the Italians say) viola, I had a picture ID. It looks the same as an NL driver’s licence, but it says across it “This is not a driver’s licence”. You may be able to do the same thing here at the Ministry of Transportation.

Another piece of ID you can get is a “Certificate of Canadian Citizenship” from the feds (Immigration, I believe). IIRC, it costs $80, but you then have a decent piece of picture ID from the fed gov’t.

Too bad you aren’t actually trying to commit identity theft. I hear that’s actually much easier.

I’m surprised about your cheques. I’ve never “cashed” mine: I deposit them and withdraw the amount I need at an ATM. Or, endorse them, get spouse to deposit them, and withdraw the moolah. Would that work?

None of the people I know went through this shemozzle when they got married, or maybe they just don’t talk about it.

 

[kaygee]

you’re lucky you don’t live in Quebec. the name on your birth certificate is your name forever!

 

[duskyjewel]

Why do they make it so difficult? I think I only needed my original DL and the marriage certificate to get my license changed at the California DMV.

And why is it that way in Quebec? The French are a patrilineal society, are they not?

 

[Lil_M]

I’ve had several headaches changing my name too. After we finally got the marriage certificate. Credit card was easiest, all i did was mail a photocopy. But I’ve had to go to the licence and health card people 2x each. Fortunately I am quite close to both, and there aren’t many health card places. but they have such short hours it’s still a nuisance. And my bank forgot to give me my certificate back when they took it to photocopy. So that was a nightmare trying to get it back! I feel your pain. But I’ve almost got it all done, I was so happy when I got my Mrs. X licence I don’t have a passport so I can’t relate that procedure. Good luck with the bureaucrats.

 

[Phemie]

Why do they make it so difficult? I think I only needed my original DL and the marriage certificate to get my license changed at the California DMV.

And why is it that way in Quebec? The French are a patrilineal society, are they not?

Only your maiden name is recognized in Quebec.

I’ve been married 32 years and have had DH’s last name that long but if I moved to Quebec they will not recognize it and I will either revert to being Mrs. Phemie ‘Father’s Surname’ or I go to court to change my surname to my husband’s thus changing my birth certificate.

 

[Phemie]

I got married back in January and I still haven’t changed my name on most of my documents. Mostly because I don’t drive and therefore don’t have a license to use as photo ID. The bank requires 2 pieces of photo ID and won’t take my Ontario health card. So I can’t change my name at the bank and I’m accumulating quite the nice pile of cheques I can’t cash . Changing my name on my passport requires 2 references and one guarantor to vouch for my identity. Why do they have to make it so difficult?

It’s illegal in Ontario for anyone to ask or accept your OHIP card for anything not related to your health care.

At this point any cheque that is dated before February 25, 2008 is no longer cashable as stale dated.

 

[cecilia97]

I got married back in January and I still haven’t changed my name on most of my documents. Mostly because I don’t drive and therefore don’t have a license to use as photo ID. The bank requires 2 pieces of photo ID and won’t take my Ontario health card. So I can’t change my name at the bank and I’m accumulating quite the nice pile of cheques I can’t cash . Changing my name on my passport requires 2 references and one guarantor to vouch for my identity. Why do they have to make it so difficult?

Oh honey, I feel your pain. Prayers for you!

I got married and moved to a different state a few weeks before my birthday. During the move, I naturally forgot about renewing my license for my old state, which expired on my birthday. Eeeek! To make things worse, my old state does not issue standardized marriage licenses like the new state was looking for. AND I didn’t know how to drive on ice and it was the middle of winter in Illinois. I needed the new license to start changing most of my other information. AND my old name was misspelled on my Social Security card. (It’s a long rant, sorry!) So there I was with an expired Texas license and a marriage license that Illinois didn’t want to accept and a SSN issued under the wrong name. YUCK! There were actually a few days when I couldn’t even prove I was a US citizen.

I’m now divorced and, seriously, I will NEVER change my name again, even if I remarry. I use my married name to this day just because I didn’t want to go through all that hassle again. Plus I had a business established under my married name and wanted to keep that association.

It’s totally not about identity or my father or any of that for me. It’s sheer practicality. We had wedding checks we couldn’t cash for two months because the checks were made out to my married name. YUCK!

 

[tapiocapudding]

I will have to call the ministry of transportation to see if they do that. Thanks for the suggestion . I didnt know my cheques only lasted a certain time. Ughhh. It’s just a big pain in my rear to go all over town on the bus and stand in lines for ages with a 2 month old baby who doesn’t much like standing in lines . Of course it’s my own stupid fault for not doing it when I was pregnant and had time.

 

[Phemie]

I will have to call the ministry of transportation to see if they do that. Thanks for the suggestion . I didnt know my cheques only lasted a certain time. Ughhh. It’s just a big pain in my rear to go all over town on the bus and stand in lines for ages with a 2 month old baby who doesn’t much like standing in lines . Of course it’s my own stupid fault for not doing it when I was pregnant and had time.

Apparently,from what I was able to find on the net, those IDs are issued by LCBO and require as much info as a passport (you provide a passport picture and must have a guarantor). It’s not a simple thing like getting a provincial ID in NL & NS & NB where your birth certificate and one or two other supporting pieces of ID are sufficient and the government issues a photo ID.

 

[Spirithound]

I got married back in January and I still haven’t changed my name on most of my documents. Mostly because I don’t drive and therefore don’t have a license to use as photo ID. The bank requires 2 pieces of photo ID and won’t take my Ontario health card. So I can’t change my name at the bank and I’m accumulating quite the nice pile of cheques I can’t cash . Changing my name on my passport requires 2 references and one guarantor to vouch for my identity. Why do they have to make it so difficult?

Hi, my friend just got married (resident of Ontario also), and she “assumed” her husband’s name by using her marriage license to change her other official documents.

 

[Phemie]

Hi, my friend just got married (resident of Ontario also), and she “assumed” her husband’s name by using her marriage license to change her other official documents.

It’s easy enough to change your documents. The problem the OP has is that she needs 2 pieces of photo ID for the bank. Without a driver’s licence and unable to use the OHIP card (the bank can’t ask for or accept it) what’s left??

She says that her passport is complicated to change (it’s the same as getting a new one) and an LCBO “BYID” card is as complicated to get as a passport and, according to the LCBO website, can only be used by people 19-35 to prove they’re old enough to buy booze.

 

[gettingthere]

Ugh my husband had to get a bunch of things (OHIP card, passport renewed, citizenship certificate) and it always seemed like he couldn’t get one without the other. We eventually figured it out, but it was annoying.

I’d say, get a “photo ID” from the MTO. Then you can get your passport, and then you can do the bank thing. It’s a long process, but once it’s done, you won’t have to worry anymore.

 

[Phemie]

I’d say, get a “photo ID” from the MTO. Then you can get your passport, and then you can do the bank thing. It’s a long process, but once it’s done, you won’t have to worry anymore.

Can you get a photo ID from the Ontario Ministry of Transport? I was looking all over the gov’t websites and the only ID I’ve seen available is the one from the LCBO.

 

[gettingthere]

Can you get a photo ID from the Ontario Ministry of Transport? I was looking all over the gov’t websites and the only ID I’ve seen available is the one from the LCBO.

Oh, yeah that’s right. I keep forgetting that Ontario doesn’t do resident ID cards.

You can get a BYID card, but I don’t think it’s really for identification purposes, just the purchase of alcohol.

I guess other than the LCBO card, you’d have to have a citizenship card, or a passport. But without a driver’s license I think that complicates things a bit, because that’s usually one of our pieces of ID.

 

[Phemie]

Oh, yeah that’s right. I keep forgetting that Ontario doesn’t do resident ID cards.

You can get a BYID card, but I don’t think it’s really for identification purposes, just the purchase of alcohol.

I guess other than the LCBO card, you’d have to have a citizenship card, or a passport. But without a driver’s license I think that complicates things a bit, because that’s usually one of our pieces of ID.

What I found interesting is that you have to jump through as many hoops for a BYID card as you do for a passport, including providing your own passport photo and umpteen pieces of ID – all that for a card that’s only useful for purchasing alcohol (and cigarettes apparently).

A gov’t photo ID in most provinces is obtainable with your birth certificate and 1 or 2 supporting pieces of ID.

If I lived in Ontario I’d never bother with the BYID, I’d get my passport right off the bat.