Minnesota woman hoping to get ID after more than half-century

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A 77-year-old American citizen is trying to fill her bucket list, but is running into a significant roadblock.

The state of Minnesota won't give her an ID card – a battle that's been stretching on for years.

It’s been six frustrating years since 77-year-old Carol McInnes' old driver’s license from Washington state expired, and she began trying to get a state ID in Minnesota.

This effort led to letters to everyone from the President, the Governor, the Attorney General, and many more, to help fix a problem caused by records that don’t exist.

"Because I don’t have documentation," McInnes told FOX 9. "What documentation? I don’t have a marriage license or divorce decree for Daryll Jerde from my first marriage, which wasn’t legal to begin with."

Carol is the mother of four kids, all born in California. The first three children were from a man she married at age 16 in Tijuana, Mexico, which didn’t produce an actual marriage certificate.

"It was a receipt from a cash register for $15. Did I know at the time it wasn’t a legal marriage? No, I did not," Carol explained.

It was only when she went to file for divorce nine years later, ahead of her second marriage, that she discovered the first marriage was never legal to begin with.

"The only thing the man ever gave me was three beautiful children," she said.

The problem, it seems, is the legal marriage that changed her name to McInnes, which is on multiple legal IDs.

That marriage license shows her changing from her first married name, which she never legally had. There’s no document that links to her birth certificate.

She would like to fly to see family, but is stuck until she can get an ID.

"I was born here, been here, raised my children here, my grandchildren, and I can’t get just a state ID so I can get on a plane," she said.