I am a Divorcee. My divorce was finalised way back in October 2009 and since then I’ve been slowly progressing back to my Maiden Name. My bank accounts, driving license and even my loyalty cards are now back to my old self. None of these were particularly painful to do – in fact I was surprised at how most places just took my word for it that I was now Miss Mitchell once again. The driving license was the worst I guess, but they only wanted the absolute, and it was done!
I am now faced with that pinnacle of identification – my passport. It has now become a pretty urgent job to get done, I’m on holiday in August, my current passport runs out in June, and so it does need renewing, and will need to be renewed in my new (old) name….
Now…call my naïve, call me overly optimistic, but my last (and still current) passport was issued in the name of Karen Mitchell Grimes, a change from Karen Mitchell on the strength of a signature from a Registrar, that was it. They were happy with that. I was therefore, thinking that all they would need would be my Absolute to undo what had been done before….Oh no, as a divorced woman who has decided to go back to my Maiden Name I have to proved a “paper trail” of my name change! So, rather than just a Decree Absolute to prove the marriage is over I also have to provide a Birth Certificate, to prove I am actually Karen Mitchell. My Marriage Certificate, to prove the marriage they already know about as they issued my passport in my married name I presume and a signed statement swearing that I am now using my Maiden Name again – which surely is obvious as I’m applying for a passport in that name??
So frustrating, especially as I have no idea where my Decree Absolute or Marriage Certificate are :o(
Hague on the other hand? Well, he always has been, and always will be Hague, and so the Passport Office (or the Identity and Passport Service as they are now called) couldn’t give a flying furry fig what his marital status is, married, divorced, fiddling with a Guinea Pig called Gerald? They don’t care :o(
I am now faced with that pinnacle of identification – my passport. It has now become a pretty urgent job to get done, I’m on holiday in August, my current passport runs out in June, and so it does need renewing, and will need to be renewed in my new (old) name….
Now…call my naïve, call me overly optimistic, but my last (and still current) passport was issued in the name of Karen Mitchell Grimes, a change from Karen Mitchell on the strength of a signature from a Registrar, that was it. They were happy with that. I was therefore, thinking that all they would need would be my Absolute to undo what had been done before….Oh no, as a divorced woman who has decided to go back to my Maiden Name I have to proved a “paper trail” of my name change! So, rather than just a Decree Absolute to prove the marriage is over I also have to provide a Birth Certificate, to prove I am actually Karen Mitchell. My Marriage Certificate, to prove the marriage they already know about as they issued my passport in my married name I presume and a signed statement swearing that I am now using my Maiden Name again – which surely is obvious as I’m applying for a passport in that name??
So frustrating, especially as I have no idea where my Decree Absolute or Marriage Certificate are :o(
Hague on the other hand? Well, he always has been, and always will be Hague, and so the Passport Office (or the Identity and Passport Service as they are now called) couldn’t give a flying furry fig what his marital status is, married, divorced, fiddling with a Guinea Pig called Gerald? They don’t care :o(
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