Bill Text: NJ S1642 | 2012-2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires MVC to accept death certificate as proof of name change.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-11-07 - Reported from Senate Committee with Amendments, 2nd Reading [S1642 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2012-S1642-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator ANTHONY R. BUCCO
District 25 (Morris and Somerset)
SYNOPSIS
Requires MVC to accept death certificate as proof of name change.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning motor vehicle documents and amending P.L.1987, c.20.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 2 of P.L.1987, c.20 (C.39:3-9a) is amended to read as follows:
2. a. Each driver's license issued pursuant to R.S.39:3-10 shall have the legal name of the licensee endorsed thereon in his own handwriting. For purposes of this section, legal name shall mean the name recorded on a birth certificate unless otherwise changed by marriage, divorce or order of court. The [director] chief administrator may require that only the legal name be recorded on the driver's license. A person who has been issued a driver's license pursuant to R.S.39:3-10 whose name is changed due to marriage, divorce or by order of court shall notify the [director] chief administrator of the change in name within two weeks after the change is made.
A person who fails to notify the [Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles] Chief Administrator of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission of a change in name as required in this section shall be subject to a fine. A person who is fined under this section for a violation of this section shall not be subject to a surcharge under the New Jersey Merit Rating Plan as provided in section 6 of P.L.1983, c.65 (C.17:29A-35).
For the purposes of this section, a digitized signature image shall constitute a licensee's signature in his own handwriting. A digitized signature image is an electronic representation of a person's written signature.
b. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection a. of this section, a widow may apply to resume her maiden name for purposes of this section, provided she presents to the chief administrator a certificate of marriage to her deceased spouse and the spouse's death certificate. The applicant shall also be required to attest, in a manner and form determined by the chief administrator, that she has not been convicted of a crime and does not have any criminal charges pending against her, and that she is not seeking the change of name for purposes of avoiding or obstructing criminal prosecution or for avoiding creditors or perpetrating a civil or criminal fraud.
(cf: P.L.1999, c.28, s.1)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill establishes a statutory means for a widow to resume the use of her maiden name on her driver's license after the death of a spouse. It would require the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) to accept as proof of the name change the applicants' marriage certificate and a death certificate indicating the death of the spouse as proof. The widow also would be required to attest that she had not been convicted of a crime, that she had no criminal charges pending and that she is not seeking to avoid prosecution or creditors.
Under current law, MVC will accept a marriage certificate or divorce decree as evidence of a name change. In other cases, the law requires a court order to change a name on a driver's license.
