If your name has drastically changed, Real ID requires an extra step or two
Q. I need a Real ID so I can fly for work. My license expires in a year anyway. When I turned 18 many years ago, I changed my first and middle names. I just changed my driver’s license, Social Security card, bank account, and my school record. There wasn’t any issues at the time. Now, however, I have a birth certificate that does not have the same name as everything else. Not even my last name is the same, because I was married many years ago. I consulted an attorney friend and he said to just try and see. Not helpful. How do I make the connection between my original name and the current one? What do I provide to the Department of Motor Vehicles so I can get a Real ID?
– Katrina Shumway, Thousand Oaks
A. Honk first contacted the DMV, Katrina, and was told by spokesman Marty Greenstein that the Real ID Act says the names on documents must pretty much match, or there must be legal documentation showing the name change.
“She could elect to legally change her name in court,” he said.
(Dealing with a name change because of marriage is usually much easier.)
Honk then reached out to the federal Transportation Security Administration and was told this issue needs to be hammered out at the state level. So he knocked on the door (figuratively) of the California Department of Public Health-Vital Records, which maintains records, including birth certificates, issued in the Golden State.
That agency told Honk it encounters this problem more often these days and that:
“Once registered, the name listed on a California birth certificate may only be amended with a certified, court-order name change, application form and appropriate fee.”
Honk then slipped on his gumshoes and called on Kostas Kalaitzidis, the spokesman for Orange County Superior Court, and, finally, got good tidings.
Kalaitzidis explained how to get what you need.
Check online for a Superior Court in your county to ensure it has a self-help window. Go there and ask for a form to change the name on your birth certificate and fill it out.
An expert can’t offer you legal advice, but there at the courthouse one will make sure you filled out the application properly, and you can then submit it to the court with a fee. You may have to attend a hearing.
“It’s a one-stop shop,” Kalaitzidis said. “This can be done very easily.”
Q. Hi Honk: Please clarify that headlights must be on, not just the running lights, when it is raining. When only the running lights are on, the rear lights are not on, which is the best reason to have the lights on.
– Brent Chamberlain, Chino Hills
A. Honk thanks you, Brent.
Honk explained last week that when windshield wipers are on continuously, because of the weather, the actual headlights must be on as well. He failed to mention that this law does indeed ensure that, perhaps most importantly, the rear lights are on, too.
Honkin’ fact: Pilots, passengers and passersby get a small treat when glancing up at the air traffic control tower at Long Beach Airport this time of year. Honk recently noticed that treat and asked Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, about it.
“Our Long Beach air-traffic controllers have been stringing regular, outdoor Christmas lights on the catwalk railing for several years to add to the flavor of the holidays,” he told Honk in an email. “The lights don’t flash, and the catwalk is below the tower cab floor, so they don’t create a distraction for the controllers.”
To ask Honk questions, reach him at honk@ocregister.com. He only answers those that are published. To see Honk online: ocregister.com/tag/honk.