Legal Question in Family Law in California

Re: Is this divorce necessary to get name change to maided name?

I am a California lawyer, not Nevada, so I can't answer definitively as there may be some different rule in Nevada, but: Yes, you can go back to your maiden name and you don't necessarily need to get divorced because your 2nd marriage is void "ab initio" (from the beginning) as a matter of law -- like it didn't exist.

That said, all legal authorities recommend you get an annulment of the 2nd marriage. Having that marriage license out there as a public record allows your second husband or his heirs to make claims against your estate, among other things, and if someone doesn't know to show that that marriage was invalid means those people may succeed on their claims.