A wife can have her married name changed back to her maiden/birth name or a former name as part of a Connecticut divorce.
It’s as easy as asking the judge at the time of the divorce to have the wife’s maiden or former name restored. There is no argument at all since the statute instructs the judge to do so upon request.
If the maiden or former name is not restored at the time of the divorce it can restored later upon the filing of a proper motion.
In practice, it is usually the wife who decides whether she will continue to be known by her married name or if she will have her name changed. In fact, most litigants assume that the choice is the wife’s to make. But – not so fast as my friend Lee Corso says.
Connecticut General Statutes 46b-63, makes clear that either spouse can request the restoration of a birth name or former. I have never been involved in a case where the husband requests that the wife not be allowed to use his last name (married name) after divorce. I trust though that this happens occasionally – perhaps in those really contentious cases where the spouses argue about pots, pans and plastic utensils.
Maybe there is a case where it makes sense for a husband to demand that the wife no longer use his last name. Like if she is maligned in some way or convicted of a horrible crime or if he just really needs to disassociate himself from her. By the way, did Kim Kardashian take Humphries? Kris if you read this….
Anyway, the point here is that either spouse can request the name change although ordinarily the wife makes the call.