Riley, J.
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
In this consolidated case, Appellant-Petitioner, William Resnover (Resnover) and Appellant-Petitioner, John Arthur Herron (Herron), appeal the trial court’s denial of their petitions to change their names.
We reverse and remand for further proceedings.
ISSUE
Resnover and Herron raise two issues on appeal, one of which we find dispositive and which we restate as: Whether the trial court erred when it required a valid driver’s license or valid state identification card as a prerequisite to grant the petition for name change pursuant to Ind. Code chapter 34-28-2.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Both appellants in this consolidated case cannot obtain a valid Indiana driver’s license due to discrepancies between the names commonly used in their everyday lives and the names listed on their birth certificates.
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As such, both Resnover and Herron are in a dilemma. Unable to change their birth certificates to their common law names means that they are unable to prove their identities to receive a driver’s license or identification card. Without a valid driver’s license or identity card even the most basic daily tasks present an insurmountable burden: they cannot purchase certain over-the-counter allergy medicine that contains ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, purchase alcohol or tobacco, they cannot enter federal facilities or board a commercial airplane, and cannot receive free assistance with their income taxes. In order to provide a solution to this conundrum, we have to interpret Indiana Code section 34-28-2-2.5.
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In its Amicus Curiae Brief, the State suggests that the plain wording of the statute merely requires a valid license number or identification number to support a petition for name change, not an actual license or identification card. We agree. Indiana Code section 34-28-2-2.5(a)(3) stipulates the inclusion in the petition for name change of “a valid Indiana driver’s license number or Indiana identification card number.” By requiring a valid driver’s license card or identification card, the trial court read into the statute a non-existing prerequisite that imposed an impermissibly high burden on Resnover and Herron.
An identification card number is the “[u]nique identification number” that must be written on the front of an identification card issued under Indiana Code section 9-24-16-3(b)(5). Similarly, a driver’s license number is the “unique identifying number of the permit or license[.]” I.C. § 9-24-11-5(a)(7). Each number is exclusively associated with the individual to whom it was issued to and does not cease to be valid simply because the card itself has expired or is suspended. Once the number is assigned by the BMV to an individual, the number becomes associated with that person and remains valid for purposes of identification.
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To avoid the rigid requirements of I.C. § 34-28-2-2.5, Herron suggests that we interpret the statute in conjunction with its preceding section 2, which reads, in pertinent part,
Filing petition; procedure for change of name of minor
Sec. 2. (a) The petition described in section 1 of this chapter must:
(1) if applicable, include the information required by section 2.5 of this chapter;
I.C. § 34-28-2-2 (emphasis added). Seizing on the “if applicable” language of I.C. § 34-28-2-2, Herron asserts that this language should be implicitly read in conjunction with I.C. § 34-28-2-2.5, which is a subpart of I.C. § 34-28-2-2….
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Although Section 2.5 propones the mandatory language that the petition “shall” include these documents, we are mindful that “[w]hen the word ‘shall’ appears in a statute, it is construed as mandatory rather than directory unless it appears clear from the context or the purpose of the statute that the legislature intended a different meaning.” United Rural Elec. Membership Corp. v. Indiana & Michigan Elec. Co., 549 N.E.2d 1019, 1022 (Ind. 1990). This is one of the rare instances where the Legislature intended a directory language. If we were to follow Amicus’ suggestion and mandate a driver’s license number or identification card number, it raises the question how a petitioner older than seventeen, having never received a driver’s license or identity card will be able to get his or her name changed on a birth certificate. [Footnote omitted.]
In sum, today we hold that to effect a name change, a petitioner must submit with the petition for a name change the documents requested in I.C. § 34-28-2-2.5—including a driver’s license number or identification card number—if applicable. To be sure, although we have decided that the language of subsection 2.5 does not carry a mandate, but rather a directory intent, the trial court is still obliged to discern the absence of a fraudulent purpose prior to granting a petitioner’s name change. We remand this consolidated case to the trial court for further proceedings in accordance with this holding. [Footnote omitted.]
CONCLUSION
Based on the foregoing, we hold that the trial court erred when it required a valid driver’s license or valid state identification card as a prerequisite to grant the petition for name change pursuant to Ind. Code chapter 34-28-2.
Reversed and remanded for further proceedings.
BAILEY, J. concurs
CRONE, J. concurs in part and dissents in part with separate opinion.
CRONE, Judge, concurring in part and dissenting in part
I concur in the majority’s disposition of Resnover’s appeal. Indiana Code Section 34-28-2-2.5(a)(3) requires only a valid Indiana driver’s license number or Indiana identification card number, the former of which Resnover apparently has and thus may use to petition for a name change.
As for Herron, I respectfully disagree with the majority’s interpretation of “if applicable” in Indiana Code Section 34-28-2-2(a)(1) and therefore disagree with its conclusion that Herron is “relieved from the necessity to produce the documents” specified in Indiana Code Section 34-28-2-2.5. Slip op. at 13. Like the State, I believe that this interpretation “gut[s] the statute and improperly make[s] the requirements of subsection 2.5 merely discretionary.” Amicus Br. at 9.
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