Bill Text: NJ A4223 | 2014-2015 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires MVC to accept death certificate as proof of name change.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-02-24 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Transportation and Independent Authorities Committee [A4223 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2014-A4223-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ANTHONY M. BUCCO
District 25 (Morris and Somerset)
Assemblywoman DONNA M. SIMON
District 16 (Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex 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] the licensee's 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 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] the licensee's 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, the chief administrator shall permit a licensee to record the licensee's pre-marital name on the licensee's driver's license upon submission of the licensee's marriage certificate and the death certificate of the licensee's spouse. The licensee shall also be required to attest, in a manner and form determined by the chief administrator, that the licensee has not been convicted of a crime, does not have any criminal charges pending, and is not seeking the change of name for purposes of avoiding or obstructing criminal prosecution, avoiding creditors, or for perpetrating a civil or criminal fraud.
(cf: P.L.1999, c.28, s.1)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill allows the holder of a driver's license whose spouse had died to revert to the licensee's pre-marital name. The bill requires the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) to accept a licensee's marriage certificate and the licensee's spouse's death certificate as sufficient to allow the licensee to display the licensee's pre-marital name on the driver's license. The licensee is also required to attest that the licensee: has not been convicted of a crime; has no criminal charges pending; and is not seeking the change of name to avoid or obstruct criminal prosecution, to avoid creditors, or for perpetrating a civil or criminal fraud.
Under current law, the 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.
The bill specifies that the Chief Administrator of the MVC is required to permit a licensee to use his or her pre-marital name on that person's driver's license in the event that the licensee's spouse dies, provided that the licensee provides the MVC with a marriage license and death certificate.
