Before we left for Texas, we gave temporary legal guardianship of our daughters to my mother and my stepfather, who were physically caring for them, in case of an emergency -- such as a medial emergency, etc. where a parent signature or permission for medical care is needed and we were not physically there.
Courtney needed to apply for a U.S. Passport and, because she is under the age of 18, needed a parent to sign the application. My mom and Joe went with Courtney to the passport office armed with the legal guardianship papers and they signed the application. The passport application for a child under 18 indicates that a parent or legal guardian must sign the application.
The clerk had them sign the form that stated that Courtney was under the age of 16. My stepdad protested and informed the clerk that Courtney was 17, but the clerk told Joe to sign it anyway. Mom says the lady was very helpful, seemed like she knew what she was doing, and they went through the process very smoothly and left the building feeling good about how things went.
Passport application gets rejected - I think the reason was they needed both legal guardians to sign, and only one of them signed (pursuant to what they were told by the clerk helping them). I wasn't involved at this point so the details are a bit unclear to me why it was rejected the first time.
Today I get a phone call from my stepdad indicating that the passport app was rejected again. They got a letter in the mail stating that because the parents did not sign the application, that they need the parents to write a letter giving permission for Courtney to travel abroad, and acknowledge that the legal guardians had our permission to sign the application on our behalf. They also need a notarized copy of our driver's licenses. I was to specifically include Courtney's file/case number that was referenced on the letter in our letter to them. [Sidebar #1: In the meantime, Courtney has had a birthday and she is now 18. My parents call and ask them if this stuff is still needed, and they tell them that yes, because Courtney applied when she was not 18, she needed to get permission from us, even though she is 18 now.]
So, I type up a letter and we go down to our Wells Fargo bank where they provide free notary services to their customers. We needed some documents notarized in Minnesota (also a letter that I drafted) and they had no problem doing that. Wells Fargo Texas tells us that because I typed the letter and it is not a legal form that they will not notarize our letter. We explain that there is no legal form, and that the State of Minnesota has requested that we type this letter giving permission. They refuse to sign the letter.
[Side bar #2: I am a notary public for the State of Minnesota. There is no reason why they could not sign our typed letter. They simply do things differently here, and I think a lot of it has to do with the culture. They just don't want to take on any risk, even though there technically is none - all a notary does is check your ID and attest that you are who you say you are. The fact that the signature is on a typed letter or a typed form should not have any bearing to witnessing and attesting a signature.]
The bank refers us to a notary down the street. After waiting for 45 minutes to be seen, the notary advises us that the notaries for the State of Texas cannot notarize any copies of forms of identification, such as a driver's license or a passport. [Side bar #3 - I used to do this in Minnesota frequently - I notarized copies of passports for the big wigs in the company I worked for when they needed documents authenticated. Minnesota has no problem with this, which is why I guess they requested it.]
So now what - we cannot have copies of our driver's licenses notarized here in the State of Texas, now what do we do?
In the meantime, my mother informs me that the passport office took Courtney's original birth certificate and original legal guardianship papers. So they now are holding these documents hostage until we can move forward.
I decide that there has to be some other recourse here since we are in Texas. Mom gives me the telephone number printed on the letter. After going through several telephone prompts, I reach a live person. I give him Courtney's case number referenced in their letter and am about to explain the situation - and he tells me that since Courtney is now 18, he cannot speak to me!!!
ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!?!?
At this point in time Courtney is working and plans to call the passport office tonight to see what can be done. In reality, I don't think anyone at the passport office knows what they are doing. The lady shouldn't have instructed Courtney to fill out a 16 and under application, since she was 17 at the time. The guy on the phone should have been able to help me, because the application was started when she was 17 and the whole issue had to do with parental permission. But now they can't talk to the parent because she is 18. However, they cannot reverse the application and start over with an application for 18 and over because she started the application when she was 17, plus they have the original guardianship papers and birth certificate.
AAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!
To be continued...
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