Jack and his wife, Lana, applied to Bay Area seeking help to obtain a new driver’s license for Jack and an identity card for Lana. Jack has always used a non-standard spelling of his last name due to a mistake that was made in the spelling of his name when he was a child. He has worked for 40 years as a long distance trucker and needed to renew his license to keep his job. However, he didn’t have a birth certificate and could not renew his license without it. Obtaining his birth certificate was complicated by his use of the inconsistent spelling of his last name for so many years. With assistance from Bay Area attorney Dan Reigle, Jack was able to get his birth certificate and renew his driver’s license. Lana has been married to Jack for more than 40 years. She has always used the standard spelling of their last name. Because Lana does not drive and does not have a license, she relies on her Florida I.D. card. However, her card had expired in the last year. Lana has had several health issues during the last year and her health care providers had repeatedly warned her that she could lose her health coverage if she did not renew her expired card. When Lana tried to renew her card, the DMV refused to issue a new one because her husband’s name on their marriage license was not spelled the same. Lana tried to work out the issue with the DMV, with no success. The struggle to renew her card increased her anxiety and affected her health. With the help of Bay Area attorney Martin Lawyer, Dan was able to contact and work with a DMV attorney to resolve the matter, and Lana received a new card with the proper spelling.
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Thank you for helping this couple. I am jumping through the same hoops to get a legal name change in order to continue to use the same name that I’ve used for 20 years. It is costing almost $600 to do it myself. I’m hoping that everyone who is going through this will contact their senators and representatives in Washington and let them know the hardship the law they created is having on Americans. Those of us who have are recognized by a certain name in every area of our lives (Social Security, IRS, driver’s license, voting, etc.) should have been grandfathered in.