When I called my financial adviser to let him know the house proceeds were headed his way, his very capable assistant said, “Do you know your married name still shows up on caller ID?” Yes … I’ve tried twice to get the company to change it. The first time they simply ignored or lost the request entirely and since it was also asking for the account to be moved from my husband’s name to mine, the account stayed in my ex’s name.
The second attempt was a little more successful – they did change the account over to me but in my married name even though I’d given them a copy of the divorce decree evidencing my name change back to my maiden name.
Feeling in such a good mood from the house closing, I decided to follow Cat’s advice and take my divorce decree down to the phone company’s service office. Amazingly, I was in and out in less than 10 minutes and the account is now in my current name! The service rep even printed out a report to confirm the name change. It wasn’t difficult! Why couldn’t they do that the first time ? I am convinced companies could realize significant cost savings if they could just service their customers right the first time a request comes in. And that applies to health insurance companies especially but don’t get me started on that!
Now all that remains of the logistics from our divorce is the tax reporting on the sale of our marital home. Of course, co-parenting the children will be an on-going commitment but I think finally after almost two and a half years after our divorce was finally, all the loose ends are tied up 🙂
Oh and BTW … managed to lock in a great 5 percent interest on a refinance for my home. Life is good.