steps taken to legally change my name in ann arbor, michigan

1. wait until 2023, when a year had passed after moving here

    - out of paranoia, i waited until one year had passed since
      receiving a michigan-issued id

2. jan 13: filed form pc 51, petition to change name, with form
   mc 97a addendum to protected personal identifying information.

    - for my reason, i wrote "i want to change my name to fit my
      gender identity." the rest of the form is straightforward.

    - be aware that it does need to be form 97a, not 97, which i
      filled out and had corrected by the court clerk

    - during the same court visit, i scheduled a hearing date for
      my case. i scheduled it for mar 21, to give ample time
      to complete the rest of the necessary steps. realistically,
      this 10 week wait was required because i'm above the age of
      21, and needed to complete a background check with the state
      police, which can take up to 6 weeks, and cannot be hurried.

    - i kept an extra copy of the petition to change name, which
      would be needed for my background check later.

    - to do this, i had to pay a $175.00 filing fee to the court

3. jan 23: got fingerprinted on a form ri-008 fingerprint card.

   - this required making an appointment with the wasthenaw county
     sheriff. appointments were available with no wait, but only
     happen on one day out of every week.

   - the court was unclear on whether i should get ink fingerprints
     or livescan, so i went with ink fingerprints since they seemed
     more likely to be accepted.

   - i did not print the ri-008 card myself; when i went to my
     appointment, they gave me one. this was advertised on the
     department's website, which i suspect is common, since it is
     printed on thick cardstock. i was printed on two cards; one
     for my records

   - to do this, i had to pay a $15.00 fee to the sheriff

4. jan 23: sent fingerprints to the michigan state police for my
   background check

   - i had to stuff some stuff in an envelope

     1. the fingerprint card, unfolded. the instructions given to
        me bolded and underlined this in all-uppercase, so i bound
        the fingerprint card between two thick pieces of cardboard
        with tape. i didn't want to give them any reason to delay
        the request.

     2. the extra copy of the petition to change name we filed with
        the court, including the case number, which i kept earlier.

     3. a check payable to the state of michigan for $43.25

    and send it to

    MICHIGAN STATE POLICE
    CJIC
    P.O. Box 30266
    Lansing, MI 48909

    i used a large flat rate envelope from usps, which came with a
    tracking code. this cost $9.25.

5. feb 14: filed form pc563, publication of notice of hearing,
   to a local newspaper

   - i chose mlive, a local newspaper, and emailed their legal ads
     department, at legalads@mlive.com

   - the literal text of my email is as follows; there was no simple
     template or example for this. my first email attempt was ignored
     and this email was immediately answered, so i take it that the
     contents of the email do actually matter.


     Hello,

     Attached is my publication of notice of hearing form (PC563),
     which I was asked to fill out.

     Paper to publish in:
     The Ann Arbor News

     Billing Party:
     Name: $NAME
     Addr: $ADDRESS
     Phone: $PHONE

     Please let me know if any other information is needed.

     Cheers
     $NAME

   - i asked for an extra copy for myself, in addition to the one that
     the newspaper was going to send to the court, attached to my case.
     there is a field in the form which asks about this, so it was easy.

   - the newspaper was able to publish on feb 16, about a week after i
     asked. one publication is required, a few weeks before the hearing.

   - i had to... call? the newspaper to pay after emailing them, and relay
     my billing information over the phone. the phone system was extremely
     quiet on their end, which made this frustrating.

   - this cost me $33.21

6. mar 10: called the courthouse to ensure that they received my
   background check, and the affadavit of publication from the newspaper

   - they had received the background check. i don't know what i would or
     could have done if they had not, but it felt prudent to check. i
     supposed i would have just rescheduled the hearing?

   - they had not received the affadavit of publication! it is a
     good thing that i checked, or i would not have been embarrassed at
     the hearing. that's ok! this is exactly why i asked for an extra copy :)

7. mar 13: went to the courthouse in person, filed my extra copy of the affadavit
   the newspaper mailed me, and kept my copy which was stamped "received" with a date.
   i did need to explicitly ask the court for an extra copy.

8. mar 21: my hearing! the listed time was at 9:00, but so are all the other
   cases for the day, so it was unclear at what time exactly i'd be seeing the
   judge. this made confidently arranging for time out of work difficult, since
   i didn't realize that all the appointments were scheduled for 9am until the
   night before.

   - my hearing actually happened at about 9:20, with no indication of when it
     would happen. i was randomly pulled out of the waiting room. i had my video
     and audio set off so that this wouldn't surprise me if there was no warning.

   - the hearing took about 5 minutes. the judge asked me the questions that
     were on the petition to change name, which i just answered with "yes" or "no."

   - she asked me to spell in full my old and new names. it was helpful to have
     these written down in front of me. though it doesn't sound difficult
     to spell your name, there was high pressure being in a "courtroom"

9. mar 22: filed for name change with social security administration. this was
   done through an online form. within 45 days of filing, i needed to go
   to the office in person and present my documentation; a driver's license
   and the name change order.

10. mar 27: went to social security administration. they said i didn't need an
    appointment, so i didn't make one. make an appointment. i waited for an hour.
    the actual business was very simple and fast, taking about five minutes.

11. apr 10: secretary of state appointment to change the name on my driver's license.
    the social security updates had to go through before i could do this, which is the
    reason for the slight gap between events. i also changed my gender marker to an F. :)
    changing the gender marker did not require any evidence; it was just a box i checked.

12. apr 20: received my new driver's license in the mail, with my updated name.
    this is when things feel "real" - now, i needed to update my name with various private
    institutions, and get a new passported.

13. apr 21: attempt to update my name with my primary bank. they require me to visit in-person
    with my id. my bank was quite far away, since i moved states. i will have to travel
    4 hours round trip to update the name, or find some other workaround.