Court will let widow change surname to match new partner’s

PORTLAND, Maine – Maine’s highest court has ruled in favour of a widow who wanted a “new start” and tried to change her surname to match her new partner’s.

The Portland Press Herald reports (http://bit.ly/2sYrTOE ) the ruling by the Supreme Judicial Court came Wednesday.

Sixty-two-year-old Carol Boardman, of Standish, was initially denied a request to change her last name by a Cumberland County probate judge in 2016. Boardman’s husband died in 2013.

Mazziotti said it would seem like Boardman and her partner, Charles Currier, were married if she changed her surname. The probate judge denied the request on the grounds that it was deceptive.

The Supreme Judicial Court overturned the decision, saying Boardman’s name change didn’t qualify as deception or fraud and couldn’t be used to help with housing or credit.

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Information from: Portland Press Herald, http://www.pressherald.com