Quote Originally Posted by SteveinMN View Post
And, in later news, a peeve of my own:

As DW and I were going through our "stuff" with our financial planner, we determined that some pension information had not yet been updated to include DW. So I contacted that employer and asked what I had to do. I was told that I needed to provide a copy of our marriage certificate -- but that since I was not updating this information during our first year of marriage, I would have to provide additional documentation (!). Some of the acceptable proof wasn't going to happen, like adding DW's name to the mortgage. But they would accept utility bills in both our names.

So I called up Xcel Energy and the local water utility and asked to add DW's name to the bills. Done. One call each, no delays, no questions beyond how DW's name was spelled. They asked for no proof at all. I probably could have told them my wife's name was Katherine Upton and they would have been fine to type that into their computers. So in the next month or so, I will receive utility bills in my and "Kate's" names and these will be submitted to my former employer as "proof" of our marriage.

Ridiculous.
Steve, that does seem ridiculous.
The corporation I work for went through a similar exercise about 5 years ago in requiring proof of legal relationships for insurance reasons. Seems like a lot of people "forgot" to delete their kids from the policy when they became of age, or had actually gotten divorced but kept the -ex on their policy. Lots of people were removed from insurance rolls when this audit was done.