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wendyreeder · Jan 3, 2012, 05:47 PM

When I got together with my husband he had a driver's license in his assumed name. We married under that name I took on his assumed last name. After a few years of marriage we moved to another state, this is now post 9/11 they required him to provide his birth certificate. His birth cert. Had a different name all together on it including his last name! He then went through the courts to have his name changed to his assumed name.
So are we legally married? We don't want to be together any more and I need to know if I need to divorce him or if I have really been married to him. Thanks

AK lawyer · Jan 3, 2012, 06:07 PM

Of course a definitive answer might depend on the law of your state, but I suspect that you are indeed married. Use of a different name by your husband on his marriage license application would not void the marriage license, or the marriage authorized by that license. And your legal last name would be the one shown on your marriage certificate.

wendyreeder · Jan 3, 2012, 06:22 PM

We 'married' in California, but we now live in Oregon. We have been 'married' for almost 11 years. So let's say his name legally was John Smith but on our marriage license it was Brian Kirk, and then after 4 years of marriage he legally changed his name to Brian Kirk. So on our marriage certificate it has Kirk not Smith like it should have been. So does it make it a legal marriage?

Fr_Chuck · Jan 3, 2012, 06:38 PM

First was it even a legal drivers license, since a birth certificate is and has been required for one for as long as I know.

With that said, it is valid, until a court declares it in-valid. So you will have to file for an annullment based on fraud.

Since a license was issued, a court will have to declare it void.

wendyreeder · Jan 3, 2012, 06:44 PM

Thanks Fr_Chuck
When he first got his driver's license he used his school records that had his assumed name on it he didn't have to provide a birth cert. for his license until it was for another state.

AK lawyer · Jan 3, 2012, 07:03 PM

Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

... you will have to file for an annullment based on fraud. ....

Originally Posted by wendyreeder

Thanks Fr_Chuck
When he first got his driver's license he used his school records that had his assumed name on it he didn't have to provide a birth cert. for his license until it was for another state.

I don't see any fraud here. He simply got the marriage license using the name he was using at the time. One can use any name one wants to, unless it is to defraud someone, and as I say, it doesn't look like he was doing that.

Would you still have married him if you had known his real name? Probably. So, as they say, "no harm, no foul".