Oh. Let the fun begin. So I came to Hawaii … expecting to relax. Nope. After the eviction process started, David and I decided not to attach me to any bills — so she couldn’t track me. So I didn’t have any way to prove residency. After living at IHM HMO for a month, I finally got a letter of residency from them. Then an appointment schedule for two months out.
I figured I had everything. Original birth certificate, two social security cards (one with my maiden name and one with Huff as my last name). Well, I finally get into the appointment and, low and behold, I need one document for the chain of custody in my names to be a full circuit — I need when I changed my maiden name to Huff. I thought I had a copy of my marriage license in our accessible storage unit. Nope. I know I have one in my Uhaul crate behind a $5,100 dollar price tag,
Well, I called the small county in California where I was married. They said they could send me my marriage certificate. I got the paperwork to do this, but I couldn’t recall signing my name as anything other than my maiden name on my marriage license. But I did have a memory of going to a courthouse and asking about how to do a name change via a newspaper. I remember figuring out how much that cost. But after that, it was a blank. So I spent the next two days on the phone with Sutter, Shasta and Humboldt seeing if they had a court case regarding me changing my last name.
On the third day, I called Sutter one more time. We had talked a few times, so by now she knew my name. I told her I couldn’t remember signing my new last name to my marriage license. She asked me the year I was married. After I responded, she laughed and said, “Of course you didn’t sign your new last name. There was not a spot on the marriage license to do that yet.” I asked her if all states were the same in the year I got married. She told me yes and that California was the first to put a “after marriage I will be known as ____” line.
I sighed contentedly. Then I hung up the phone and sent in the form to get a copy of my old marriage license.
And in two months — I’ll have all the paperwork to get my REAL ID to a Hawaiian ID. (Thank God my driver’s license does not expire for another 2+ years.)