some local headlines

[acroyear]

Airport board raises rates for Dulles Toll Road - washingtonpost.com

Frustrations of married women trying to get IDs at DMV - washingtonpost.com:

It took Earley four visits to the Fairfax/Westfields DMV office to get an ID card. All because her birth certificate didn't have her current name on it and that, according to new state and federal laws, means it doesn't prove that she is a U.S. citizen.

For women in particular, the passage of the Real ID law, which created standardized, federal identification standards in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, has made the process of documenting who they are far more complicated, frustrating and unreasonable.

My wife carries her marriage license (well, a notorized copy) with her every time we leave the country, just in case someone gripes about name A != name B on any of the other documents she has.

Comments

Re: Thought that was standard

[ginger-rose.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can understand some FUBARS and confusion right after 9-11, but it's been a while. ;) I've always checked what documentation was needed before showing up to an agency.

Marriage, divorce, adoption, or just legal name changes -- all have legal documentation to go with them. If you lose them, there are means of getting them replaced too. While I'll grant the staff was either ill trained or jerks, the information is out there. I can understand an old woman not being internet savvy in finding it, but to go back 4 times? That doesn't make sense.

I suppose the reason why this strikes me as catering to the ignorant is because I've gone through name changes a few times in my life, and while it has it's hassles, it's really not unreasonable. Yeah there are several places to update, but that's pretty standard too. Irritating? yeah, but I'd rather some irritation than anyone being able to cry their way into a false ID at the DMV.

In getting my daughters ID's it's been the same thing. When I went on a cruise with my youngest daughter (15) last June, our last names were different and we had to provide extra documentation. I completely understood because hey, how can they know she's my daughter if I don't have proof? What if she wasn't my kid and was running away and I was taking her against her parents consent? That's why these rules are in place. As we were sorting it all out, you know what they said? "wow, thanks for being so understanding -- usually people scream at us and freak out and create a huge scene." They were incredibly helpful and we were on our way, but it was sad to hear how my reaction (reasonable) was the exception, not the rule.

If I didn't know the process well myself, I'd probably be more sympathetic, but it seems that the reporter is making these people out to be the victims, and honestly...they're not. Victims of rude staff, sure, but I don't think they're victims of an unfair process. *shrug*

Re: Thought that was standard

[blueeowyn.livejournal.com]

let's see. The DMV in my state doesn't recognize a passport as legal ID to show a name change or proof of citizenship. In order to get my driver's license after my name change (first and last); I had to have my SSN card, my old drivers license, my birth certificate, marriage certificate, and change of name form. To get my new passport, I needed the old passport (which was still valid) + the change of name documentation. Heaven forfend that I get robbed and lose my license because then I won't have a valid photo ID to get a valid photo ID (unless my employee ID would count since I work for a subset of the state government).

Also, it took 4 visits, 8 pieces of documentation and 4 people to get a car transferred to me. My parents got divorced and my mother remarried (so her current name doesn't match my birth certificate). I got married (so my last name doesn't match my birth certificate). I legally changed my first name (whee). So we ended up at MVA with the title of the car, the 'notification of gift' certificate, my birth certificate, her divorce decree, her 2nd marriage license, my marriage license, my paperwork on change of name, my passport, my husband's license, and our insurance cards to show that A) I was her daughter, B) my husband is a legal relative; C) we had insurance available for the car in question. If they had told us the first time we went through line (waited from 8:15-10:30am) what all we needed rather than just telling us that we were missing X documentation (not XY and Z) it wouldn't have been so annoying.

Retitling something after a death is really fun as well. Since you need to prove it wasn't a sale.

Oh, and if a jointly owned car has vanity plates, there is a special form that has to be signed by the former co-owner giving you rights to the plates.