Divorced Couple Fighting Over the Right to Keep Last Name
If you've been married and things ended with you going your separate ways, how did you and your ex handle the whole last name thing?
Most of us that have been married once or twice didn't start our marriages with thoughts of ever having to argue over who gets to keep things that are accumulated during the marriage. Being married twice myself, I never entered either marriage thinking about getting divorced. But things do happen and sometimes it's better for everyone to go on their way. So, what happens to the person who changed their last name when they got married? Who keeps it?
That's exactly the question we were just asked through text message.
"I was previously married and my ex has kept my last name. We didn't have any kids but for some reason, my new fiancé is so mad that she hasn't changed back to her maiden name, she wants to wait to get married to me until my ex does. There's nothing I can do to force her to change it is there? How do I get my fiance to see that I'm not in the wrong?"
It seems like this has become a big problem for a lot of divorced people and honestly, I'm not sure what the best advice is here. But I do know that after my first divorce when I was preparing to marry my second wife, she did have an issue with my ex still having my last name. After talking about it and us having kids, she understood why the whole name thing wasn't worth arguing over though.
Have you been through anything like this? What would be the best way for him to go about solving this? Dawn in Walker Valley texted us, "Asking for the name to be changed is ridiculous. When you take your husband's name is a legal name change. It is such a pain to change everything. Think about all the things your name is on. Bills, credit cards etc…. The fiancé just needs to get over herself. This is coming from a woman 2nd time married so changed my last name twice."
Liz from Poughkeepsie texted, "According to New York State law he can’t force his ex to change her name. Because it was made a legal name change. But he might have to speak to a lawyer if it’s something he wants to do. My boyfriend got divorced and it was put in the divorce that she had to change her name back."
Any advice? Call or text us through the Wolf app.