This is one of those things that I think is so STUPID that you just have to laugh about it.
My wife and I have been married for 28 years. We are in the process of getting passports for the first time. A friend who works in the county register's office suggested that we get new copies of our birth and marriage certificates. She said that sometimes the process just goes more smoothly with the passport people, if new, certified copies of birth & marriage certificates accompany the application.
The birth certificate stuff went through without a hitch. New copies issued. When our friend started to process the request for a new marriage certificate she entered my name, ROYCE MERITT, and there was no record of a marriage certificate ever being issued. She did a little investigating and discovered that when our marriage certificate was originally entered into the state system they spelled my name wrong MERRITT instead of MERITT.
To cut to the chase we now have to file an ammendment and pay $8 to get that changed. It just seems so typical that one would have to pay $8 to get the state government to fix something that they screwed up 28 years ago.
Please don't turn this into "GOVERNMENT BASHING". I understand that there may be many, many reasons to file for an ammendment to a marriage certificate. If the policy is that an ammendment costs $8 so be it. In this case it just seems silly.