How To Change Your Name After Marriage

How To Change Your Name After Marriage Welcome to the joy of wedded bliss After the vows are spoken, the cake is cut, the anlass has wound down and the honeymoon is over, its time to take the last step to make everything official. Its time to change your last personenanthroponym via a legal anthroponym change.Does your anthroponym automatically change when you get married? No, there are steps you have to take.Youve lived for so long with your maiden name that it can be hard to know where to start provided you do, in fact, want to change your married name. Its becoming increasingly common for women to keep their maiden name, change their name to a hyphenated combination, or even for men to adopt their wives last names upon marriage.However, if going the traditional route is for you, there are fortunately a few simple steps to changing your surname after marriage. These steps will help you navigate from the county clerks sekretariat to probate court to everywhere else you may need to go for your name change. Yes, its a lengthy process that sometimes poses complications, but if changing your name is important to you, then any challenges will be worth it. Here are the steps on how to change your name after marriage.What Do I Need to Change My Name After Getting Married?Step 1 Get Your Marriage LicenseThe first piece of this puzzle is your marriage license. You might be wondering, is there a time limit to change your name after marriage? There is no time limit, which is good, because you may end up with a lot of paperwork from your wedding that could take some time. The most important piece of paper is the marriage license, which is signed and embossed by the Justice of the Peace. Getting the license is usually a big parte of your wedding preparations, even if your ceremony is officiated by a priest or an ordained friend or colleague.Depending on the state in which you reside, you may have to make a visit to a marriage counselor in order to receive your license fro m the courthouse. In some areas, you may be able to complete this pre-marriage counseling online, so make sure you look into the options available to you in your state.Hang on to your marriage license. It will be the key to making the rest of this transition easier. In fact, now is a good time to pinpoint the location where youre going to keep all of your important documents, like your license, your birth certificate and your spare leistungspunkt card.Step 2 Change Your Name With Social SecurityThe second step to successfully changing your name after marriage is to change your name legally with the Social Security Office. If youre wondering, how do I change my name on my Social Security card, you will need the followingYour marriage certificate. Note This is different than your marriage licenseYour drivers license or other proof of identity. This will still have your maiden name on it, but thats leid a problem.An application for a Social Security Card. You can pick this up at your l ocal office or print it out from your home computer.You can mail your application to the Social Security office, but if you choose to do that, remember you need to send your original documents with your application. They will be returned to you, but there is always the risk of such documents getting lost in the mail.If you have the option, stop by your local Social Security office. They will be able to go over your application and verify your documents in person, then you will then receive your new updated Social Security card in the mail, generally in seven to 10 business days.The next step will have to wait until youve received your updated Social Security card. Make sure you hang on to your marriage license while you wait.Step 3A Change Your Name On Your Drivers LicenseOnce youve received your new, updated social security card, your next step is to head to the DMV to update your drivers license. If youve updated or changed your ID in the last few years or had to fly anywhere in t he same period of time, then you are probably familiar with the Real ID program.It was designed by the Department of Homeland Security to increase the voreingestellts for drivers license issuance. For most people, it just means you need a lot of extra paperwork to change, update or renew your drivers license. This list might vary from state to state, so make sure you check with your local DMV, but in general, to change your name, youll needYour marriage license.Your birth certificate make sure its a certified copy, embossed by the Department of Vital Statistics for the state where you were born, or it will not be accepted.Your updated social security card.Proof of residence one or two pieces of mail or bills that are less than 60 days old that include your name and address. When you change your name, these can usually have your maiden name on them, as long as that information matches whats on your current drivers license.Your current drivers license and/or passport.Take all of tha t information to the DMV, stand for a picture and youll have your new drivers license with your married name before you can blink. Just dont blink for your license photo.Step 3B Change Your Name On Your PassportIf you have a passport you use to travel, now would be the time to change your information on that as well. How you do this will depend on how long youve had your passport. If youve had your current passport for less than a year, youll use the form DS-5504, and you will not be charged to update your name. If youve had it for more than a year, youll need the form DS-82 and will need to pay the standard renewal fee.For both of these forms, you will also need to submitYour current passport.Your original marriage license or a certified copy. Again, make sure it has that embossed seal from the court where you received it, or it will not be accepted.A color passport photo.This name change has to be submitted by mail, and it can take anywhere fromfour to six weeks to get your update d passport and any original paperwork back in the mail. If you need it in a hurry, you can pay extra to have the process expedited, which cuts down the wait time totwo to three weeks.Step 4 Change Your Name at WorkAfter youve returned from your honeymoon, its time to get back to normal and for most people, that means going back to work. Updating your name at work occurs in two parts reintroducing yourself to colleagues and clients with the new name youre going to use and updating your work paperwork to reflect your new name as well.The first part of this is easy simply send out a new introduction email, letting everyone know you have returned but your name has changed and you will be going by Mrs. blank from now on.The second part might involve a visit to HR to get all your paperwork updated. Whether your workplace requires you to show proof of your name change will be up to them, but we would suggest bringing your new social security card and/or marriage license with you when you make the appointment to update your paperwork.If you are an employee, make sure you update your tax paperwork as well. You will need to fill out a new W-4 with your updated name so your taxes can be corrected attributed to you. If youre planning on filing your taxes as Married Filing Jointly in the future, you will want to note this on your W-4 paperwork as well.Thankfully, this step is fairly easy. Its no more complicated than the paperwork you fill out when you start a job all you need to do is change your name.Step 5 Change Your Name On Everything ElseThis is the fun part figuring out everywhere else where you will need to submit copies of your marriage certificate in order to change or update your name. This will vary depending on your own personal needs, but, in general, you will probably need to change your name onBank accounts check with your bank to find out what it needs. Most will only need to see or receive a copy of your marriage license and your updated social secur ity card to update your information.Credit card accounts similar to banks. Any student loans should also fall under this category.Car registration and titles if you dont think to update these when youre at the DMV updating your drivers license, you will need to update both of these items with your married name.Mortgage or lease make sure your bank or landlord is aware of your name change.Utility bills again, you will probably just need to submit a copy of your marriage license to get these changed to your new married name.Insurance your homeowners insurance, auto insurance and health insurance will all need to be updated with your new name. If you havent added your new spouse to your accounts or been added to their accounts yet and youre planning on combining accounts, now would be the time to do that too.Keep an eye out for mail that you might receive that comes in under your maiden name it might be something as simple as a magazine subscription, but it will let you know if t here are other accounts that you have forgotten to update.If we havent said it yet, congratulations on your recent wedding Hopefully, these steps make it a little easier to navigate the waters of how to legally change your name after marriage. Theyre not terribly hard, but they are time-consuming and can get confusing if you do them out of order. For now, though, enjoy your honeymoon and wait to worry about paperwork until you get home.--Sarah Landrum is an expert career blogger and the founder of Punched Clocks, a career and lifestyle blog helping professionals create a career they love and live a happy, healthy life. 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