Name Changing in MA

[waterlilly]

I saw Hudson Hawk posted this same thread and I have a Massachusetts specific question. I have not changed my name yet (married over a year!) because when I went to do it months ago I was told I could not change my middle name (to my current maiden name) since it was not written on my marriage certificate!

I was sort of forced to decide right then and there - do I want to just keep my middle name as is and hyphenate my last name or drop the whole idea! Ack! I just said "forget it, I can''t decide that right now!" and left.

I''ve since spoken to other women who have said they had no problem changing their middle names and didn''t understand why I did.

Am wondering if any other ladies in MA have done this recently (changed their middle names as well as last names) and if so - what SS office did you go to?

Thanks!

 

[Octavia]

IIRC, NewEnglandLady did this and she had to go to court for her name change. I think she''s in MA but I''m not certain. Hopefully she''ll chime in if she can be of any help, but in the meantime you could always do a search for her posts about changing her name, I know she has talked about it in various threads!

 

[grace10209]

HI
Im in MA. It was easy for me
Step 1: Go to SS Office with your marriage certificate and your drivers license (w/maiden name)
wait for SS card to come in - once it comes in
Step 2: Go to DMV with your NEW SS CArd, marriage certificate and current license
wait to get new license - then you can do the rest
Step 3: change passport if you have one - go here for forms and locations near you
Go here: http://travel.state.gov/passport/fri/ChangeName/ChangeName_851.html

then call your credit card companies, health insurance, pcp, etc etc etc.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Hey, Waterlilly,

Yes, unfortunately in MA if you want to legally change your middle name (or add a second middle name, which is what I did), it has to be done through the court system.

I live in Norfolk County, so I went to that county's Family & Probate Court website to download all of the forms. Then I took a day off of work, drove out to the court, handed in all of my documentation and at that point they issue you a court date. I was lucky that they could fit me in that day (this was my plan--I went in the middle of the week), so I stood before a judge, stated why I wanted to change my name, then he granted it and they printed up the documentation within a half of an hour. I was home by lunch.

At that point, I took my legal name change documents from the court to the SS Office, DMV, etc. It was all painless.

You can change your name cosmetically if you get lucky and find a SS or DMV person who will change your middle name or add a second middle name on your DL and SS card. Be warned, though, that it's still not your legal name. I consulted two MA lawyers about this and they both said the same thing--that any change made to your DL or SS card and even your passport are not legal unless you go through the court and it can be an issue with birth certificates and other legal documents down the road.

I think that ZoeBartlett has some experience with this as well--she didn't go through the court and the DMV didn't let her change her name. Good luck!

 

[wyndham]

Thanks Waterlilly for starting this topic and NEL for responding!

I live in Missouri, and the laws here are the same as MA (where I'm originally from): to make your maiden name your new middle name, you have to go to court. All in all, the process has taken me about three months, and today I finally received legal proof of the name change (woo hoo!). Not sure about MA, but in Missouri it's a tedious process and cost around $250 in Court fees and newspaper fees (I was required to run an ad in a legal newspaper announcing the name change).

NEL, I have a quick question for you. My lawyer is telling me that I'm required to contact the state where I was born and change my birth certificate to match my new name. Did you do this? Is it absolutely essential? I kind of like the idea of keeping my birth certificate the way it was originally written!

Thanks, and good luck to you Waterlilly! It's an annoying couple of weeks, but it's over before you realize it.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Oh how funny, Wyndham, I was born and raised in MO! What area of MO are you in?

The process in MO is such a pain--I have a couple of old friends in MO who''ve had to go through that process. NY is the same way, I was glad mine was much less of an ordeal!

I asked the same thing about my birth cerficate and was told that I can change it, but it''s not crucial so long as I have the name change documentation. When we have children, however, my new name will be on our childrens'' birth certificates.

 

[wyndham]

Date: 1/7/2010 2:31:23 PM
Author: NewEnglandLady
Oh how funny, Wyndham, I was born and raised in MO! What area of MO are you in?

The process in MO is such a pain--I have a couple of old friends in MO who've had to go through that process. NY is the same way, I was glad mine was much less of an ordeal!

I asked the same thing about my birth cerficate and was told that I can change it, but it's not crucial so long as I have the name change documentation. When we have children, however, my new name will be on our childrens' birth certificates.

Too funny! I'm in St. Louis. Where are you from?

I'm so glad to hear it's not just me who thinks Missouri's name change laws are a pain...I was beginning to think about moving to get away from them!

I have several friends in New York too who have debated and ultimately decided against making their maiden name a new middle name simply because of the hassle factor.

Thanks for the info about the birth certificate...that's really good to know! I am so ready to just be done with the whole process -- I can't believe they make it so difficult for you to change your OWN NAME. Ugh.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Date: 1/7/2010 2:46:07 PM
Author: wyndham

Date: 1/7/2010 2:31:23 PM
Author: NewEnglandLady
Oh how funny, Wyndham, I was born and raised in MO! What area of MO are you in?

The process in MO is such a pain--I have a couple of old friends in MO who''ve had to go through that process. NY is the same way, I was glad mine was much less of an ordeal!

I asked the same thing about my birth cerficate and was told that I can change it, but it''s not crucial so long as I have the name change documentation. When we have children, however, my new name will be on our childrens'' birth certificates.

Too funny! I''m in St. Louis. Where are you from?

I''m so glad to hear it''s not just me who thinks Missouri''s name change laws are a pain...I was beginning to think about moving to get away from them!

I have several friends in New York too who have debated and ultimately decided against making their maiden name a new middle name simply because of the hassle factor.

Thanks for the info about the birth certificate...that''s really good to know! I am so ready to just be done with the whole process -- I can''t believe they make it so difficult for you to change your OWN NAME. Ugh.

I''m from the other side of the state--Kansas City.

I felt the same way about the process. I was frustrated because all I wanted to do was just KEEP my name...with my new last name attached to the end! I remember being very frustrated with the fact that I had to go through court just to keep a name I already had, but then after it was all over I thouht "well that wasn''t so bad". I''m so glad the process is almost over for you!!!

 

[wyndham]

Small world, NEL!
Glad to hear that now the process is just a distant memory...I hope to feel that way soon!

 

[waterlilly]

Thank you N.E.L!

Argh, so frustrating. It''s just a middle name!! You know what the strange part was...the woman at SS said "no, you can''t change your middle name because that is not what is written on your marriage certificate. But you can hyphenate your last name".

So...I can change my SURNAME (the most "legally important" part of my name) without it being written that way on my marriage certificate but not my middle (name than hardly ever gets used) name???? That made NO sense to me!

I''ve been given the advice - just start using the middle name you want and eventually it will be on all your paperwork, bills, etc. and you can eventually slip it through the dmv! Dunno if that will work! But, I''m not really keen on dealing with the whole court thing. I''m annoyed that I will have to pay for a middle name change!

 

[NewEnglandLady]

I know, it is frustrating. The way it was explained to me was that the marriage certificate is basically a legal name change without having to go through court. So if you hyphenated your name on the marriage certificate, then you can definitely change it on your license, SS card, passport, etc. legally. If you didn't hyphenate your name on your marriage certificate, then you'd have to go to court even to hyphenate it legally. Whatever is on your marriage license is what you can legally change it to. Because you cannot change your middle name on the marriage certificate going to court is the ONLY option. The one other option I considered is having two last names that were not hyphenated since I COULD put that on the marriage license, but having 2 last names would have been a bigger pain than having 2 middle names.

You can "slip" a second middle name through the DMV sometimes, but it's not a legal change, which could cause problems down the road. Any change on your DL, SS card and Passport that is not on your marriage license or through a court-ordered name change is simply a cosmetic change and you still have to sign your legal name on any legal documents.

ETA: So if the lady at the SS office told you that you could hyphenate your name on your SS card, but your name is NOT hyphenated on the ML, she was wrong. She may have printed up a SS card with a hyphenated name, but it STILL wouldn't be your legal name. If your name is hyphenated on your ML, then you can legally change it on all of your ID.

 

[swimmer]

Date: 1/7/2010 8:03:59 AM
Author: grace10209
HI

Im in MA. It was easy for me

Step 1: Go to SS Office with your marriage certificate and your drivers license (w/maiden name)

wait for SS card to come in - once it comes in

Step 2: Go to DMV with your NEW SS CArd, marriage certificate and current license

wait to get new license - then you can do the rest

Step 3: change passport if you have one - go here for forms and locations near you

Go here: http://travel.state.gov/passport/fri/ChangeName/ChangeName_851.html


then call your credit card companies, health insurance, pcp, etc etc etc.

But this technically isn''t legally changing your name in MA if the OP wants to do what she says she wants to do. If you are doing anything other than dropping your MaidenLast for MarriedLast, you have to go to court; this includes to drop your original middle for your MaidenLast to become your middle. Yes, SS let me change my name to the new one and so did the RMV (just like the poster said above), but it wasn''t legal like IRS legal, till we went to court according to the commonwealth of MA. As NEL said, you have to go to court to get it done, takes about an hour, not in a courtroom like Law and Order, just a secretary (officer of the court) checks to make sure you aren''t felons (DH and I both changed our middle names to my MaidenLast) and it is 2 for 1 if you change at the same time in the same family. $60 IIRC. We went in Cambridge, less than an hour in and out. Not sure what would have happened if we were felons...