NORTH FORT MYERS, Fla. (CBS12) — A Florida woman says a decades-old family secret has left her unable to obtain a driver’s license after state officials discovered that the maiden name she has used throughout her life does not match the name on her certified birth certificate.
“I’m not sure who I am anymore, honestly,” North Fort Myers resident Cara Marshall said, according to WBBH.
Marshall said she had always believed her maiden name was Hendrix. That name appeared on her school records, marriage license and other documents.
But when she recently visited a Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles office in Lee County, she learned that her birth certificate listed a different surname.
Marshall said her mother changed her last name to Hendrix when Marshall was about 18 months old after marrying Marshall’s stepfather. The change, however, was never made legally.
“My mother never told me,” Marshall said. “She did all the paperwork that way, registering me in school and everything, and never told me about it. She wanted to hide the fact that I had a different father.”
Marshall’s birth certificate identifies her biological father as Ronald Sniffen, meaning Sniffen was the surname she was legally given at birth.
Marshall said her mother wanted everyone in the family to share the same last name.
“She took it upon herself without doing it legally, and now here I am,” Marshall said.
North Fort Myers resident Cara Marshall was denied a Florida driver’s license after learning her lifelong maiden name does not match her certified birth certificate. (WBBH via CNN Newsource)
For decades, the discrepancy did not appear to cause problems. Marshall attended school, worked, married, voted and obtained driver’s licenses in multiple states.
She said North Dakota issued her a Real ID in 2022, and South Dakota issued another in 2025.
“I never had a problem, and I was in and out in two minutes,” Marshall said.
That changed after she moved to Florida.
Marshall said Florida officials denied her application because the maiden name on her records does not match the name on her certified birth certificate.
“It makes me go, ‘Who am I?’” she said. “How do I prove this now?”
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The situation raises questions about how states apply federal Real ID requirements. Although Marshall was able to receive Real ID-compliant licenses in other states, Florida has so far declined to issue her one.
WBBH has asked state officials to explain the difference and is awaiting a response.
Marshall said the documentation requirements leave people in situations like hers with few clear options.
“They’re setting us up to fail,” she said.