Apostille for Name Changes done in the USA
for the Philippine Estate Tax Amnesty (Post #5)
My dad changed his first name when he was naturalized as an American citizen. Many new American citizens take advantage of this free name change that is done during the naturalization ceremony. How will a name change affect filling for the Philippine Estate Tax Amnesty? Well, it requires a lot more paperwork and its certification of authenticity is different from our previous post about getting Apostille from the states.
Names in Birth and Death Certificates should Match
You need birth, death and marriage certificates to prove you are the heir. Well, my dad’s name in my birth certificate is different from his current name. Of course he is the same person, he only goes by a different name by the time of his death. Moreover, I also changed my name during my own naturalization. Here is how I prepared documents for the Philippine Tax Amnesty when I filed before its 2023 deadline.
I travelled to Los Angeles, California to be near my dad during his last days. He passed away a few days after I arrived and I begun filing a form required by the crematorium we selected. I was surprised to find out I am not qualified to fill out the form alone because ALL children should sign which will take time because my brother was in the Philippines. Anyway, this hurdle was overcome by his Medical Directive assigning his roommate to represent him. I will tell this story another time.
With my help, my dad’s roommate filled out the form for the crematorium, which in turn, filed his death certificate. When it asked my dad’s other names or AKA (Also Known As) I wrote his birth name in the Philippines. I was thankful I had the presence of mind to do that because it was later accepted in the Philippines when I filed for the estate tax amnesty. But what about my own name change?
Name Change Request during Naturalization Interview
When I was in school in the Philippines, many of my classmates were Maria + another name. I was one of those girls. My first name was Maria Sheila. It did not matter to me that many of us were Maria because we call each other by our second name. I was always Sheila in the Philippines. When I went to the USA, they called me Maria. Don’t get me wrong, I respect that name. I just want to be called Sheila. When the interviewer asked me if I wanted to change my name, I immediately dropped Maria. Well, as my relatives told me, it was my fault that I had to do more paperwork. The good news is, now I can share with you what I learned. For my free subscribers, know more about it from what the Philippine NY Embassy posted. For my paid subscribers, please read on to know how I got an Apostille for my name change where I contacted three different US government agencies to complete it. Next post will be about discrepancies on names in Local Tax Assessments (amilyar or real property taxes) and LRA Titles and how I dealt with it.