Zooey Deschanel Made A Major Decision Regarding Her Children’s Names

New Girl star Zooey Deschanel has been taking major steps in her life, including purchasing a home with her boyfriend, Property Brothers star Jonathan Scott. She also had her famous last name added to her children’s birth certificates. According to documents acquired by The Blast, Deschanel filed an emergency request for the “issuance of new birth certificates for the minor children to conform to the judgment” following her divorce from Jacob Pechenik. Deschanel and Pechenik announced their split after four years of marriage in 2020 and share two children, Elsie Otter and Charlie Wolf.

According to the report, the former couple agreed to legally add the name “Deschanel” to both children’s birth certificates. Deschanel faced roadblocks with the Vital Records in Los Angeles and filed a declaration with her ongoing divorce case In order to get the matter dealt with quickly.

“My request for change of the children’s birth certificates to conform to the terms of the Stipulated Judgment was denied by the Center for Health Statistics and Information, Vital Records because my name as listed on the Stipulated Judgment differs from my name as listed on the children’ birth certificates and the children’s names as shown on the original birth certificate differed from the requested Birth Certificates,” Deschanel wrote. “I want to travel for the holidays and need the updated birth certificates in order to have passports issued for them.”

Deschanel has been Scott since they met on the set of James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke while filming a segment with their famous siblings, Emily Deschanel and Drew Scott in the summer of 2019. The Elf actress would later tell Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest on Live With Kelly and Ryan that she felt “instant chemistry” with her now-beau, and the two spent most of 2020 quarantining together. In a June interview with Us Weekly, Deschanel gushed of Scott, “I just think Jonathan is just the nicest person in the world. So, I’m just really lucky. I just try to be as nice back as, you know, he is. And it works.”

“It’s really inspiring how passionate he is about green energy and solar power,” Deschanel added to PEOPLE. “He’s always working to try to figure out solutions for those problems, and really wants to support people who are being innovative on those levels.” Their shared love for the environment ended up being one of the bonding forces between the two. “I remember actually when we first met, he sent me his documentary and I was like, wow, we are so aligned on this level,” the Celebrity Dating Game host explained. “Because we both really care about this one issue, but have different areas that we focus on.”