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Help my name change become legal

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Many of you know I have been experiencing some significant trauma in the form of stalking and defamation. It was threatening enough for me to relapse into anorexia as a way to cope . I’ve moved across the country and basically been in hiding for the past two years. In March 2020, with the help of my therapist I decided I was going to need to change my name in order to escape these people who would rather I not exist. It was then that I began going by Jo everywhere I could, instead of using my legal name. Because of COVID, making the name change legal hasn’t been possible until now.
 
Josephine Jean Bartlett
(the stalkers made it so Benson is no longer an option for my new last name)
 
On 10/5, I met with an attorney who will assist me with this process and although it is relatively straightforward, it is expensive. There are fees for filing the petition with the court, a FBI background check, making a public notice, and, of course, the attorney fees. And, well, I’m a grad student living off of student loans and my minimum wage part time job.
 
Throughout the past two years, I’ve struggled with more thoughts and plans for suicide than I’d like to admit. Without changing my name, my future seems bleak. I’m still the same me—I just need to be able to fully, legally put the past behind me.
 
Can you chip in to help me secure a freer future?

Organiser

Jo Benson
Organiser
Ann Arbor, MI

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