Case Dismissed. Certifiably Married.

Way back in September, we went to the Cook County Clerk's office to get our marriage license so we could get married. They took Cathy's info off her driver's license that indicates her name is "Cathy." So after our wedding, our marriage certificate ended up stating that I was married to "Cathy." However, her full given legal name is Catherine. So what's the big deal?

Well apparently it's a huge deal when it comes to changing your name post-marriage. When Cathy went to change her surname (a decision I left entirely up to her), the discrepancy between our marriage certificate and her vital records barred her from doing so. After a bunch of red taped dead ends, we learned we had to file a complaint against the Cook County Clerk to correct the certificate, i.e., we had to sue the Cook County Clerk (which we did). Thankfully, we didn't have to wait until our court date in July to prove that Cathy and Catherine are one and the same - it was agreed that we would voluntarily dismiss the action if they just made the change. So one lawsuit and four weeks later:

At first blush, this seems ridiculous. The procedure for correcting just a letter or the whole name on a marriage certificate is the same: you have to go through court and prove it. Why? Well I don't know the real reason but I do know that whose name is on a marriage certificate is powerful information in, say, the execution of a large estate, determining insurance coverage, property transfers, divorces, and a shit ton of other things. You make it too easy to change things like marriage licenses and you'll just get a lot of fraud.

Well either way, it was a pain so watch out for these things since sometimes the devil really is in the details.