Removing a Hyphenated Name
My question involves name change laws in the State of: Nevada
I got married in January of last year and at that time I was the guardian of my mother. I was still carrying my ex-husbands last name so due to my guardianship when I got married I hyphenated my name so that I didn't have to go back and redo the guardianship. My question is my mother passed away last year and I want to remove my ex-husbands last name and just use my current husbands last name. How do I go about doing that, or can I? Thank you in advance for any assistance.
Re: Removing a Hyphenated Name
If your name on your marriage certificate is Jane Doe-Smith then you are legally Jane Doe-Smith until you go to court and officially change your name to Jane Smith.
However, nothing prevents you from referring to yourself as Jane Smith and signing your name as Jane Smith anywhere except where there is some requirement that you use your full legal name.
Nevada adult name change appears to be a rather simple process and name change forms are probably available on your local court's website or from a website of a court that has them and then just change things around to fit your local court.
Re: Removing a Hyphenated Name
Tell the judge you had indecisive loyalties until mom died and now you know who you want to be. Any self respecting judge would approve the elimination of a hyphen.
Re: Removing a Hyphenated Name
Frankly, as long as you don't tell them (or there is any indication) that the reason you are changing your name is to escape some adverse criminal or credit history and there is no active legal action against you, a judge will take anything from "I never liked that name" on up as a valid reason.