Persephone
10-15-2014, 06:21 PM
The alarm went off before dawn, not usual for this retiree. Breakfast and my spouse and I started getting ready for the day's events. I picked a pleated black skirt, sheer white blouse, tailored jacket, and 4-1/2" stilettoes.
By 7:30 a.m. we were on the road, heading for the Los Angeles Superior Court building. We reported to the designated courtroom and there, on a list, was my male name with the case description, "Change of Name."
The doors opened around 8:30 and those of us who were waiting filed in. A beautiful courtroom with a Clerk and another person who appeared to be the Clerk's clerk. I went over and checked in, asking them when my case might come up as it was #5 on the Docket. The gentleman looked at the schedule and said, "You'll be out of here before 9 a.m.!"
Sure enough, the Clerk motioned for me to come over (my name was never called out loud) and handed me my signed "Decree Changing Name and Gender." In the split second that the Decree crossed the table I went from legally being a guy with a guy's name to legally being a woman with a female name!
They explained that in order to get Certified Copies I needed to take the Decree to the processing area, have it copied and certified and then bring it back to them for filing.
As we headed for the processing area my spouse said, "Well, how does it feel to be a woman?"
I said, "Kinda funny, I feel pretty much like I did ten minutes ago!" and we both giggled.
A bit of a surprise at the processing area, they don't even give you one Certified Copy as part of the court fee! They'll give you a rather worthless plain paper copy, but if you want Certified (which is what you need) you have to pay an additional $25.50, even for the very first one!
We ordered three copies, which was what I had planned to get and was what the clerk said was probably the right number, waited for them, paid for them, returned the orriginal to the Clerk in the courtroom and headed out. All in all, we were in the courthouse for less than an hour!
From there we went directly to the Social Security office as that is pretty much the very first place you need to make a change. Since they had been closed on Monday the office was even more packed than normal. I searched for parking nearby, eventually dropping my spouse off to get in line, and I drove around trying to find a place to park the car.
I ended up three rather long blocks away and had to hike over along the poorly maintained sidewalks of Los Angeles in my 4-1/2" stilettoes. Adding insult to injury, just as I reapproached the Social Security building a car pulled out right next to me! Gr-r-r-r-r-r!
After about an hour and a bit more they called my number. A very nice lady worked with me to make the changes to Social Security and Medicare. She had some problems making the Medicare gender change so she took my phone number and said she would follow up. And she really did! She called early the next morning to tell me that she was making progress and would continue to keep me informed.
My spouse stayed at the office as I hiked back the three long blocks and got the car.
We headed to our primary bank to begin making the changes there. Along the way we spotted something fun! The gate to Marwyck, Barbara Stanwyck's home that she later sold to Jack Oakie and that now is under the control of the city was open, so we decided to "sneak" onto the property. We walked around a bit on the very, very broken walkway, finding that the pool Stanwyck had built and that was the site of many of Jack Oakie's risque parties had already been drained and damaged by the city.
Then we were caught! The uniformed city officer came over and told us we weren't supposed to be on the property. It is not yet "Open to the public." So we smiled and chatted and promised to leave if he would help us take a few pictures!
After our brief visit to Marwyck we proceeded on to the bank. One of the platform officers who has been working with me for several years during my transition was very helpful in changing over my accounts, issuing a new debit card, etc.
From there it was out to a small celebratory lunch at a local deli and then home for a bit of a rest before joining our Trivia team for the evening.
So I have a question. Since there are still occasional times when I am required to be in drab, have I now gone from being an MtF CD to being an FtM CD?
Hugs,
Persephone
By 7:30 a.m. we were on the road, heading for the Los Angeles Superior Court building. We reported to the designated courtroom and there, on a list, was my male name with the case description, "Change of Name."
The doors opened around 8:30 and those of us who were waiting filed in. A beautiful courtroom with a Clerk and another person who appeared to be the Clerk's clerk. I went over and checked in, asking them when my case might come up as it was #5 on the Docket. The gentleman looked at the schedule and said, "You'll be out of here before 9 a.m.!"
Sure enough, the Clerk motioned for me to come over (my name was never called out loud) and handed me my signed "Decree Changing Name and Gender." In the split second that the Decree crossed the table I went from legally being a guy with a guy's name to legally being a woman with a female name!
They explained that in order to get Certified Copies I needed to take the Decree to the processing area, have it copied and certified and then bring it back to them for filing.
As we headed for the processing area my spouse said, "Well, how does it feel to be a woman?"
I said, "Kinda funny, I feel pretty much like I did ten minutes ago!" and we both giggled.
A bit of a surprise at the processing area, they don't even give you one Certified Copy as part of the court fee! They'll give you a rather worthless plain paper copy, but if you want Certified (which is what you need) you have to pay an additional $25.50, even for the very first one!
We ordered three copies, which was what I had planned to get and was what the clerk said was probably the right number, waited for them, paid for them, returned the orriginal to the Clerk in the courtroom and headed out. All in all, we were in the courthouse for less than an hour!
From there we went directly to the Social Security office as that is pretty much the very first place you need to make a change. Since they had been closed on Monday the office was even more packed than normal. I searched for parking nearby, eventually dropping my spouse off to get in line, and I drove around trying to find a place to park the car.
I ended up three rather long blocks away and had to hike over along the poorly maintained sidewalks of Los Angeles in my 4-1/2" stilettoes. Adding insult to injury, just as I reapproached the Social Security building a car pulled out right next to me! Gr-r-r-r-r-r!
After about an hour and a bit more they called my number. A very nice lady worked with me to make the changes to Social Security and Medicare. She had some problems making the Medicare gender change so she took my phone number and said she would follow up. And she really did! She called early the next morning to tell me that she was making progress and would continue to keep me informed.
My spouse stayed at the office as I hiked back the three long blocks and got the car.
We headed to our primary bank to begin making the changes there. Along the way we spotted something fun! The gate to Marwyck, Barbara Stanwyck's home that she later sold to Jack Oakie and that now is under the control of the city was open, so we decided to "sneak" onto the property. We walked around a bit on the very, very broken walkway, finding that the pool Stanwyck had built and that was the site of many of Jack Oakie's risque parties had already been drained and damaged by the city.
Then we were caught! The uniformed city officer came over and told us we weren't supposed to be on the property. It is not yet "Open to the public." So we smiled and chatted and promised to leave if he would help us take a few pictures!
After our brief visit to Marwyck we proceeded on to the bank. One of the platform officers who has been working with me for several years during my transition was very helpful in changing over my accounts, issuing a new debit card, etc.
From there it was out to a small celebratory lunch at a local deli and then home for a bit of a rest before joining our Trivia team for the evening.
So I have a question. Since there are still occasional times when I am required to be in drab, have I now gone from being an MtF CD to being an FtM CD?
Hugs,
Persephone