Name change is not the problem it is made out to be
As a 40-year veteran of the titleinsurance business, as well as a member of the Bar of the states of New Jersey and New York, I couldn’t disagree more with some of the conclusions drawn in this article. Let’s examine some of the misstatements made.
“We would have to obtain a lawyer, who I know would not work on an issue for free, and I estimate the minimum at $1,500 to start,” she (Petain Avenue resident Marion Servon) said. What would she need the lawyer for? The name-change process is a municipal function; the New Jersey statutes set forth the entire procedure that does not have any financial impact whatsoever on individuals. The municipality adopts the name change, files it with the county clerk, notifies the U.S. Postal Service, and that’s the end of it.
The article also mentions that in a letter to the mayor, North Brunswick-Milltown Veterans of Foreign Wars Clark-Moetz Post No. 2319 Commander Eric Dean wrote that the two families would incur “thousands of dollars to make this supposedly ‘simple’ change, not to disregard the time and effort that would need to be invested. This is not a mere visit to the Department of Motor Vehicles with the necessary six points. This change would involve the deeds to the properties, mortgage companies, insurance companies, banks, creditors, utility companies, employers, correspondence, family, friends, and in the case of one of the families, a company, which would have to change all of its documentation likewise,” he wrote.
Mr. Dean could not be any more in error.
No deeds would have to be rerecorded, no mortgages would have to be refinanced. If Mr. and Mrs. X live at 1 Petain Ave., which is changed to 1 Main St., the only time a deed or mortgage would be recorded showing this property as 1 Main St. would be when Mr. and Mrs. X sold the property or refinanced the property, at which point in time the description of the property in the deed and/or mortgage would read “No. 1 Main St., formerly known as No. 1 Petain Ave.” Until that event occurs, no deed would have to be re-recorded, no mortgage would have to be refinanced.
Insurance companies and utilitieswould all ultimately change their own records internally without any effort or expense by the individual homeowners.
I would suggest that we look at past precedent to determine the accuracy of the statements being made here. In 1935, the residents of East Brunswick changed “Milltown to Patricks Corner Road” to Riva Road; in 1958 Elm Avenue was changed to Volgyi Avenue; in 1963 Willow Street was changed to Irene Street; in 1965 Mitchell Avenue was changed to Mihalichko Avenue; and in 1989, Rues Lane was changed to Ryders Lane.
Isidore Teitelbaum
East Brunswick
