Friday, August 29, 2008

A CROOK?!?! A middle name???

So I had another interesting episode in life today!!

Did you know in the state of Nevada you can't use your maiden name as your middle name. . . even if you didn't have a middle name EVER??? Or if the name change happened in another state??
And by the way, why would you ever want the middle name Crook!?!?!

Today Kyle and I went to get our Nevada drivers licenses and cars registered and license plates. Kyle went in and there was quite a few people who arrived between the two of us, so Kyle was done before I even got called up. Kyle left to run errands, and I waited what seemed like forever. Luckily the woman in front of me had two boys 7 & 10 years old that I harassed to pass the time. Finally about 30 minutes later I was called up. I handed the woman my papers, and she started doing her thing with the computer, then suddenly she stood up, took my papers (California drivers license, social security card, marriage license, and birth certificate) and disappeared down a hallway, without even saying a word to me. About a minute later she came back having a discussion with another woman, and they came up and told me that I can't use my maiden name as my middle name.
I asked, "Even if I didn't have a middle name before I was married, and that is now my middle name legally. Look at my social security card."
"Mam, we don't take names from social security cards here."
"What about my California drivers license, my bank statement (which I brought in case they needed proof of address), and my marriage license?"
"MAM!! You can't use your maiden name as your middle name in Nevada!!!"
After more discussion and confusion, along with them trying to convince me to hyphenate my name to Crook-Hansen on my drivers license (which I was told was illegal to do with out a name change with a hyphen with the government when I got my social security card) I said, "Ok so put my name as Suzanne Hansen on my drivers license."
So they started filling out more information in the computer. A couple of minutes later the woman said, "Ms. Hansen, I can't register your car. Your California registration lists you as Suzanne Crook. You have no proof that you are Suzanne Crook." (California had my name changed in the system, but had never issued a new registration after my name change.)
My jaw dropped!!! What more did she want?? She had my birth certificate, my social security card, my marriage license, and picture ID (I had given her my ID from when I was teaching at the deaf school as a second form of picture ID during the previous discussion which had my name listed as Suzanne Crook).
The discussion ensued for about another 15-20 minutes. I was taken back to the supervisors office, a police officer and immigration officer were brought back, and I heard a very interesting discussion going on with the staff about why in the world anyone would want to have Crook as a middle name. Very irritated at this point, I stood up, walked to the doorway, interrupted their conversation and said, something to the effect of I can't see why anyone would want a name like Smith, Gomez, or Fox (Looking at their last names on the badges). It's what was given to me, and I've made something of it!! I like having a middle name for the first time in my life. I was then eyed by the police officer and sat back down. (We had already had a discussion with the police officer, because he thought it was some kind of a joke that they were having a problem with someone's name being Crook. I quickly clarified that it wasn't a joke.)
After a period of time and A LOT more detail to the story, along with phone calls from the supervisor of the supervisor to me after I had left the DMV . . . I now have a Nevada drivers license that states I am Suzanne Hansen, a Social Security Card and marriage license that say I am Suzanne Crook Hansen, and my car is still registered in California not Nevada. I have to contact California, pay to have my registration changed in California, and bring the paperwork back within the next 30 days or go to Reno and see a specific judge and get a letter stating that my name change is an exception in the state of Nevada and all my records can be listed as Suzanne Crook Hansen. If my plates on my car are not Nevada plates within 30 days of change of residence to Nevada, I can be fined $500. I've already been here 22 days!!
I DON'T GET IT!!! but no matter what Nevada says. . . I'll always be a Crook!!! (and as of March 30, 2007 a Hansen!!)
Why can you get married so easily in Nevada, but you can't have your maiden name as your middle name?? Am I the first person to have this problem??
And to think. . . the Journalist I am married to left right before all the action started!!! Once again action happening when I'm around and he misses it!! :)

9 comments:

Sami said...

Ok, that was crazy! Remind me of this if we ever move to Nevada!!

We have given all or our girls a middle name. Perhaps this will help them in the future!?

Sami Thompson

Nancy said...

When I lived there I avoided the DMV like the plague. The only DMV when I first moved there was the main one on Sahara. It was a nightmare. I only had a NV Drivers license and plates for about 1 year of the 8 that I lived there!!! I got them @ a DMV in Henderson and I still stood in line for 2 hours.

Allison said...

LAME!

dlkenney said...

Wow, someone needs to educate them. I made sure my daughter had a middle name just because I didn't want her to have to keep her maiden name if she didn't want to. Here in Utah they almost automatically assume you use your maiden name if you don't have a middle name. Good Luck on the whole licensing process.

Anonymous said...

What ever happened with this? I just got married and went to change my name to my new married name, trying to use my maiden name as my middle name and they wouldn't let me. They said I needed to file for a legal name change with the courts. Dumb, dumb, dumb....!

Deborah said...

This is still a problem in Nevada. Our company was moved from Eugene, OR to Las Vegas, and three people who moved have had this problem with the DMV. It is downright ridiculous, since none of us had any problems in Oregon changing our middle name to our maiden name with a marriage license as proof.

Grace said...

I would love to know how you resolved this, Suzanne, if you don't mind sharing, or if you can explain more about how you would present this to the judge in Reno. I have run into this same issue even though receiving a driver's license in another state and changing my Social Security card was not an issue at all. I dropped my maiden middle name and took on my maiden last name in the middle spot. I was in tears at the DMV and am refusing to accept this as legitimate or legal.

Suzanne C Hansen said...

I had made a legal name change in CA with the Social Security administration and my national licensures before moving to NV. The only issue I had was with my drivers license and registration. . . basically the DMV. My drivers license does not list my full legal name, just my first and last. I went back later, and my car registration lists Suzanne Crook Hansen (a different DMV office and a different person). I signed all the papers for our house with my full legal name. After hours of phone calls and investigation, it's only the DMV that has this issue. My nursing license in the state of Nevada has my full legal name. . . THROUGH THE NEVADA BOARD OF NURSING!! which is a state agency just as the DMV is. Whenever I do anything legal I take my social security card and an old ID that has my full married and legal name. My name on our home loan based in Nevada and all my bank accounts reads Suzanne Crook Hansen. I finally put this issue on the shelf and moved on because it seemed the DMV was the only place that was being ridiculous about the issue.

Sarah Jane Yumul said...

I was just at the DMV today and had the same problem. I cannot believe they will not add my maiden last name as my middle name! Now my maiden name is completely dropped from my drivers license but my nursing license and social security card have it on there, not to mention my kids have my maiden name as a part of their name! (they're boys so they won't have to worry about changing their names)