How long did it take you to change your name?

[elrohwen]

Date: 11/20/2009 11:33:02 AM
Author: Octavia
I have no idea what the legalities are when you get married in one state but reside in another...would be interesting to look into if I didn''t have so much on my plate right now!

This is my situation, because I got married in NY, but actually live in CT. I have been told (not sure if this is accurate) that you follow the rules of the state you got married in. So, for example, in NY you can put your new name on the marriage license, then that legally allows you to change it (ie you don''t have to go to court). So I should just be able to go to the SS office in CT and change it.

However, I think NY and CT are about the same legally, so it''s really not an issue. I don''t know what happens if you have states that are very different legally.

 

[Octavia]

Date: 11/20/2009 11:40:06 AM
Author: elledizzy5
The state (Michigan) would not allow me to change my name with them until I changed it with the SSA. My marriage license was not enough to change my drivers license. They required proof of the change with the SSA before I could get my license.


Oddly enough, I could change my name on all my credit cards without any proof of name change!

It''s confusing, isn''t it? I won''t cite all of the C.F.R. provisions and court cases, but being an uber-dorky law student, I actually researched all this stuff last year.

Either way, you have to do what the state says, because they''re the ones who set policy and procedures, but those procedures can be completely backwards to what the law is!

 

[sunnyd]

Date: 11/19/2009 8:53:34 PM
Author: kama_s

Date: 11/19/2009 1:34:04 PM
Author: sunnyd
I''m in a state of post-wedding laziness (1.5 weeks) so who knows when I''ll do it. I changed it on FB right away and changed my sig at work to include my new name, but my tabs are expired and I''m too lazy to even find out what happened to those (I renewed a month ago, but they never showed up)!

I hear ya though, it''s just a thing to get used to. It''s weird changing your name when you''ve had it your whole life! And I couldn''t wait to take DH''s name!

Your current last name is the name of my favourite street in my favourite city (which, coincidently, also happens to be my favourite street and city in the world!)

Yay! LOL. I will miss having my own city and street. That was pretty fun.

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 11/20/2009 1:16:03 PM
Author: sunnyd

Date: 11/19/2009 8:53:34 PM
Author: kama_s

Date: 11/19/2009 1:34:04 PM
Author: sunnyd
I''m in a state of post-wedding laziness (1.5 weeks) so who knows when I''ll do it. I changed it on FB right away and changed my sig at work to include my new name, but my tabs are expired and I''m too lazy to even find out what happened to those (I renewed a month ago, but they never showed up)!

I hear ya though, it''s just a thing to get used to. It''s weird changing your name when you''ve had it your whole life! And I couldn''t wait to take DH''s name!

Your current last name is the name of my favourite street in my favourite city (which, coincidently, also happens to be my favourite street and city in the world!)

Yay! LOL. I will miss having my own city and street. That was pretty fun.

Now I''m dying to know what your name is!!

I''m so nosy

 

[sunnyd]

Date: 11/20/2009 5:40:10 PM
Author: elrohwen

Date: 11/20/2009 1:16:03 PM
Author: sunnyd

Date: 11/19/2009 8:53:34 PM
Author: kama_s

Date: 11/19/2009 1:34:04 PM
Author: sunnyd
I''m in a state of post-wedding laziness (1.5 weeks) so who knows when I''ll do it. I changed it on FB right away and changed my sig at work to include my new name, but my tabs are expired and I''m too lazy to even find out what happened to those (I renewed a month ago, but they never showed up)!

I hear ya though, it''s just a thing to get used to. It''s weird changing your name when you''ve had it your whole life! And I couldn''t wait to take DH''s name!

Your current last name is the name of my favourite street in my favourite city (which, coincidently, also happens to be my favourite street and city in the world!)

Yay! LOL. I will miss having my own city and street. That was pretty fun.

Now I''m dying to know what your name is!!

I''m so nosy

St. -----

Is that a good enough clue?

 

[bubbly1126]

I did it the following week. I couldn''t wait to change it!

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 11/20/2009 5:52:56 PM
Author: sunnyd

Date: 11/20/2009 5:40:10 PM
Author: elrohwen

Now I''m dying to know what your name is!!

I''m so nosy

St. -----

Is that a good enough clue?

Haha, not unless it''s "St Louis"

I''ll have to think on it a little.

 

[BeachRunner]

I got married on October 24th, and I WILL go to the SS office on Monday the 23rd, I will! So, one month. After I make the change there, I''ll start with everything else.
ETA: I just moved to Colorado and can''t obtain a driver''s license until I''m employed or have lived her for 90 days. I am accepting a job on Monday, so I''ll be able to change my license/care registration etc. The joys..

 

[Amandine]

Um, yeah. Its been over a year, and I have yet to change mine. For a bit, I had some travel booked and needed the name on my ID to match my tickets (truthfully, though, I know I could have used my Passport and then changed it). Then, well, we kinda misplaced the marriage license

. DH finally ordered another for $5. And since then? No real excuses. I am hyphenating, so its not like things will change that much. Some of it is just me dreading the whole process. I will, eventually, though!

 

[jstarfireb]

Definitely don''t change your name if you don''t really want to. It''s what you''ll most likely be called for the rest of your life, plus it''s a huge pain in the butt! You could always take his name socially and keep yours legally/professionally. But to answer your question, I hyphenated mine about 4 months later.

 

[swimmer]

Date: 11/20/2009 11:40:37 AM
Author: elrohwen

Date: 11/20/2009 11:33:02 AM

Author: Octavia

I have no idea what the legalities are when you get married in one state but reside in another...would be interesting to look into if I didn''t have so much on my plate right now!

This is my situation, because I got married in NY, but actually live in CT. I have been told (not sure if this is accurate) that you follow the rules of the state you got married in. So, for example, in NY you can put your new name on the marriage license, then that legally allows you to change it (ie you don''t have to go to court). So I should just be able to go to the SS office in CT and change it.


However, I think NY and CT are about the same legally, so it''s really not an issue. I don''t know what happens if you have states that are very different legally.

OK, there are few states more different than MA and TN, we live in MA and married in TN. Our marriage certificate had no option for changing names, and it is just a one inch long piece of paper with only a signature from our Rabbi, who marries so few people she forgot to sign it...so I forged it later. MA SS took one look at this "certificate" and laughed. B/c I wanted my maiden name to be my middle name I had to go to court, and since DH made my maiden name his middle name also, we went to court together one morning and it took $60 and an hour while they made sure we were citizens and not felons. (a nice bonus if you have any lurking questions about your dh

)

To answer your initial question, we did this about a month after getting married on the first day we were both free to skip work, but changed our DLs later as we were traveling internationally and didn''t want to have to change passports quickly before they had expired. So yes, Elrohwen, it is all about which state you get married in and which state you live in. To some extent, "states'' rights" are alive and well (as evidenced by the "male candidate" and "female candidate" blanks on the TN form and "party A" "party B" on the MA form. MA would have let us change our names on the certificate and then go to SS, but I''m not sure if that is a legally binding change. Anyway, we had to go to court, until some male figures out that MA is discriminating against him by not charging females (get to name change on ML) and by charging males (in court) there is a bit of a loophole. NEL is more of an expert on this than I am.

 

[DMBFiredancer]

Got married in July and I just finished the last of my name changing. The best thing I ever did was to leave my maiden name as my middle name - I felt like I didnt have to go through any period of missing it (if that makes any sense.) I still get to see my old name on everything that way

I was surprised at how easy it was to change most things. Work was the biggest pain in my butt - had to get stuff notarized and it took awhile for everything to go through...but now its all complete

 

[Clairitek]

Date: 11/21/2009 8:04:17 AM
Author: swimmer

Date: 11/20/2009 11:40:37 AM
Author: elrohwen

Date: 11/20/2009 11:33:02 AM

Author: Octavia

I have no idea what the legalities are when you get married in one state but reside in another...would be interesting to look into if I didn''t have so much on my plate right now!

This is my situation, because I got married in NY, but actually live in CT. I have been told (not sure if this is accurate) that you follow the rules of the state you got married in. So, for example, in NY you can put your new name on the marriage license, then that legally allows you to change it (ie you don''t have to go to court). So I should just be able to go to the SS office in CT and change it.


However, I think NY and CT are about the same legally, so it''s really not an issue. I don''t know what happens if you have states that are very different legally.

OK, there are few states more different than MA and TN, we live in MA and married in TN. Our marriage certificate had no option for changing names, and it is just a one inch long piece of paper with only a signature from our Rabbi, who marries so few people she forgot to sign it...so I forged it later. MA SS took one look at this ''certificate'' and laughed. B/c I wanted my maiden name to be my middle name I had to go to court, and since DH made my maiden name his middle name also, we went to court together one morning and it took $60 and an hour while they made sure we were citizens and not felons. (a nice bonus if you have any lurking questions about your dh

)

To answer your initial question, we did this about a month after getting married on the first day we were both free to skip work, but changed our DLs later as we were traveling internationally and didn''t want to have to change passports quickly before they had expired. So yes, Elrohwen, it is all about which state you get married in and which state you live in. To some extent, ''states'' rights'' are alive and well (as evidenced by the ''male candidate'' and ''female candidate'' blanks on the TN form and ''party A'' ''party B'' on the MA form. MA would have let us change our names on the certificate and then go to SS, but I''m not sure if that is a legally binding change. Anyway, we had to go to court, until some male figures out that MA is discriminating against him by not charging females (get to name change on ML) and by charging males (in court) there is a bit of a loophole. NEL is more of an expert on this than I am.

Just wanted to make two comments on your post Swimmer-

1) the comment about them making sure you were citizens and not felons made me laugh out loud, literally

2) How awesome is it that your DH took your maiden name as his middle name? I wish I had thought of that one!! If DH were willing to do that I think I would have heavily considered outright changing to his last name and making my maiden one my middle.

Too late now!

 

[Lilac]

Got married in February, changed my name on my license and in school in July, but I have yet to make it to the Social Security office to change it there. Not sure why they let me change it on my license without changing it at the Social Security office first, but all they asked for was my marriage certificate and they just changed it. I know I need to make it over to the SS office, but I''m so intimidated by the never-ending lines that are always there so I keep avoiding it.

 

[Laila619]

We got married in early November. The week after the wedding we were on our honeymoon. The week after that was Thanksgiving week, and the courthouse closed early so we couldn't pick up a copy of our license (they don't mail it here, you have to go pick it up in person). So 3 weeks after the wedding day I was finally able to pick up our license and then I submitted all the name change stuff the very next day. Less than a month from wedding day to name change! I was super excited and couldn't wait, lol.

I had planned to do it even earlier but like I said, the courthouse was closed early for the Thanksgiving holiday the day I originally went.

 

[radiantquest]

I changed everything in 1 day. I went to the ss office, drivers license place, bank, all of it in 1 day.

I was married on Friday and did all the changes on Tuesday. I was very excited to change my name. I couldn''t wait so that is why I spent a whole day doing it because to me it was fun.

 

[swimmer]

Happy to make you laugh C-tek! Hey, I had googled him and met all his friends and family, but you never really know till a town clerk says he is kosher.

 

[musey]

Only two months (one month after getting home from the honeymoon), surprisingly enough. I'm still not used to the new last name, but I'm still using my maiden name professionally, so that likely has a lot to do with it.

Is there a time limit, do you have to change within ___ days of your wedding? I actually wish I'd let the marriage settle a bit before plunging in to the new name. I'd always planned on it, always wanted to... but now a year later a little piece of me wishes I had held off. I've totally surprised myself in missing my old name, I did NOT think that was possible!

 

[elrohwen]

Musey, no there''s no time limit to change. I put my new name on the license, but I could still choose to change or not. I know what you mean about a little piece of you not wanting to change. I really do want to change my name, but there''s that little bit holding me back from actually doing it. But I do know I would regret not doing it eventually ... I guess I just have to work myself up to it. (it helps that I have to re-register my car by January, so that''ll give me a kick in the butt

)

 

[musey]

If it were me (and it was - ha!), I would just wait until you fully WANT to. There''s no big reason (is there?) to change anymore, really, so if your heart''s not 100% there yet then just wait on it.

It''s easy to go ahead and change it, but I don''t think it''s very easy to change it back - especially when it comes to breaking that news to one''s husband.

 

[luvbug]

I changed mine the day after we got back from our mini-moon. I was worried about having a new passport for our honeymoon in January so I got right on it.
Surprisingly it was pretty easy. Getting used to the new signature now that''s the hard part!

 

[blackpolkadot]

I changed mine the day after we got back from our honeymoon. I had registered to take a test for my degree under my new name, so I had to get it changed ASAP. It went smoothly, thankfully!

 

[sunnyd]

Well, as I found out today, you ladies have it so easy!

I have to change my green card before anything else, which costs $380! Yikes!! So I'm in a citizenship for $675 or renew green card again and again debate with myself. Arg!! There goes any speedy name changing for me! I tried.

 

[dcgator]

I changed everything over to his name the week we got back from the Honeymoon. The worst part was the DMV, b/c the line is always such a pain on a Saturday, but the SS office was not bad at all.

I was more than happy to take his name b/c no one could pronounce my old one. Also, my DH was deploying less than a month after the wedding, so there was definitely some urgency to get everything right for the legality of all the documents...

However, I second everyone else''s sentiment that it is not a requirement to change your name over, so don''t feel like you have to. It''s a personal choice!

 

[jewelz617]

It''s been 2 years and I still haven''t legally changed it. Kind of not sure I really want to! Our daughter took my husband''s name, but right now I''m hyphenating my name until I am sure I want to change it altogether.

 

[wyndham]

Did anyone else have to go to court to change their name?

I want to make my maiden name my new middle name (and drop my maiden middle name altogether), but in my state it takes a few months, a court date, and running your new name in a newspaper for a month. Did anyone have a similar experience?

It's been incredibly frustrating!

 

[wishful]

omg I WISH I could have gotten it all done in one day! No such luck for me!

First off I bought a name change kit online to help me but it still took forever. In fact it still isn''t done!

Went to the SS office first..there were probably a 50 - 60 people in there so we left. Half day off of work wasted.
Decided we''d do the mail in route...so sent in my marriage cert. with my old ss card and waited about a week and a half.

Can''t do the DL until you have your SS card changed. So as soon as I got that back in the mail I made an appt at the DMV. had to take a half day off of work for that. But at least we got that submitted. Got new license in the mail about two weeks later.

Still have to do Passport.
Just got one of my bank accounts switched over a couple weeks ago. Still have one more to do. And the third one I was able to mail in the material (photo copy of DL, SS, and MC).

Some of the Credit Cards will switch things over the phone, some will not. it''s hit or miss.
Work stuff was relatively easy but most of it involves logging onto various websites (for paycheck info, 401K, health insurance etc.)

Still have to do AAA and I think my car insurance. Uggh.. Someday I''ll be official! I probably started this back in June. We got married in March.

 

[elrohwen]

Well, almost 3 months after the wedding I finally took a step to change my name! I went down to the SS office on Tuesday and should get my new card next week or the week after. Then it''ll be off to the DMV (I have to renew my car registration anyway, so the timing works out). Then passport. Really, the worst part is probably all of the banks, insurance companies, AAA, library card, etc. I should really start making a list because every day I think of another company that will need to know my new name. I guess I''ll just start out with the basics and then change others as I think of them. It seems like I''ll be thinking of new places to change my name a year from now

 

[Clairitek]

Date: 12/18/2009 1:43:37 PM
Author: elrohwen
Well, almost 3 months after the wedding I finally took a step to change my name! I went down to the SS office on Tuesday and should get my new card next week or the week after. Then it''ll be off to the DMV (I have to renew my car registration anyway, so the timing works out). Then passport. Really, the worst part is probably all of the banks, insurance companies, AAA, library card, etc. I should really start making a list because every day I think of another company that will need to know my new name. I guess I''ll just start out with the basics and then change others as I think of them. It seems like I''ll be thinking of new places to change my name a year from now

Oh goodness. I am DREADING this part. I haven''t done banks or passport yet. I flew today and the ticket was purchased under my maiden name so I kept my passport under that name. When I arrive at my parents'' house my new DL was here! I still have my home state DL because of insurance/car tags purposes (parents own the car I drive, must have DL in state where its insured, blah blah). I am looking forward to getting started on all the nitty gritty.

One name change story a PSer would appreciate- I recently bought a small diamond from BGD. I am registered under my new name Clairitek Maiden-DH''sLast so they mailed it to that name. I didn''t have my new DL yet so I was worried the FedEx facility wouldn''t let me have my goodie! I showed up armed with my passport, marriage license, and SS card because the temporary paper license my home state gives me looks totally chinzy and fake (esp to an out of state person). The woman looked at me like I was insane! Thankfully she gave it to me after I said "I got married recently and hyphenated my name and my passport is under my maiden name..." My maiden name is very unusual so she bought it easily. Now, the bouncer at the bar last weekend almost didn''t let me in!!! I am almost 28 years old!