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After 2 Year Legal Battle, Husband Takes Wife's Last Name
May 6, 2008, 12:59 PM PDT 
Santa Monica, California -- New brides have done it for centuries and now, after more than two years of legal wrangling, a California man has officially taken his wife's last name.The former Michael Buday picked up his new driver's license Monday with his wife's surname, Bijon, following settlements with the Department of Motor Vehicles and Department of Health Services. Buday, now Bijon, promised his wife Diana on their wedding day in August 2005 that he would take her name since she had no brothers and wanted to prolong her family name. The former Buday said he was estranged from his own father and was not attached to his last name. But changing his name proved difficult-- and costly. With backing from the ACLU, he eventually decided to file a first-of-its-kind discrimination lawsuit against the state of California. For Buday to take his wife's name, he would have had to pay court fees of more than $300, advertise his plans in newspaper for four weeks and get judicial approval. For Bijon to take her husband's name, she would have had to pay a county application fee that ranges from $50 to $90. "I never imagined the state would make it so difficult," said Buday. "It was a symbolic gesture, but it's also very real for us. It's about what our children will be named, about starting a new family on our own terms. For us, it was very traditional." According to the settlement agreement, the state Department of Motor Vehicle and Department of Health Services changed their policies and forms to allow husbands, wives and domestic partners to take each other's last names. "What's in a name is the message that a marriage is a union between equals," said Mark Rosenbaum, legal director for the ACLU of Southern California. "California now has a marriage license for the 21st century, not the 15th century." "When we got married, the law basically said, `Don't be silly, only a woman can change her name when she gets married.' I'm proud to be part of changing that," Diana Bijon said. Copyright © 2008, KTLA Video   More Coverage    
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