Did I sign my marriage license wrong!?

I haven't signed my maiden name in nearly 16 years. Yikes. Hopefully I'll just sign with my legal name. Never been married in this state so I'll make sure to note that when applying.

But my FH name and current last name are so similar that the way my signature looks I won't have to change it! All you can visibly see is the 1st letter and last letter and those happen to be the same as FH. (It's nice tho to live together and have monograms with last name letter for decor cuz we are are the same)

Savanah, so good to hear from you! I've been thinking about you and wondering how specific details went on your wedding day. No doubt it all went well but your one guest/situation was on my radar. So glad to hear all is well! Congrats and best wishes.

The Marriage License is what you get at the clerks office (or register office) before you get married, the Marriage Certificate is what you sign after the ceremony.

You sign both with your current legal name (maiden). Your name does not change until you go to the social security office and then DMV and officially change it. This does not change depending on what state you're in--it's the same across the board.

You sign with your maiden name. Been married before.

@2ndtime....you only sign the certificate and license with your maiden name IF it's your legal name. OP's legal name is her maiden name until she officially changes it at SSA.

@kari You just can't march down to DL and SSC the next day...when I divorced the judge asked me if I was taking my maiden name back. I said no...because of my kids. However if I had-the judge signing off on the change would make it legal. Not me going down to DMV and changing it.

After you get married in my state you have to get a certified copy of your marriage -which takes a few weeks. One stamped and signed like if I had changed when a judge asked me.

Then you change with SS office first.

Basically you can't get married on Sunday and change your names on Monday. You gotta wait until it's recorded with your county.

After kids are born you generally have to wait 6 weeks-sometimes more-to get a certified BC copy. The fancy hospital ones aren't legal.

Get married on a Tuesday at the courthouse and have judge sign off run it over to get recorded you could possibly get a certified copy faster.

@Karl - that's not true in all states. In Florida, the marriage license and marriage certificate are the same piece of paper. You sign the license at the clerk's office and bring it to your officiant. They then sign and stamp it and mail it back to the clerk. The certificate gets mailed back to you with another stamp and/or sticker on it stating that it has been added to legal records.

Mrs Barton - It's not always done (in church weddings, anyway) that the pastor "announce" you at the altar as "Mr. and Mrs. X" prior to the recessional. However, it is something that he should have gone over at the rehearsal.

It's your maiden if you didn't change your name yet. My SIL has her maiden name on their marriage certificate so I'm sure you're fine!

A.L. not to make you crazy, but your 'new' name is not your name until you actually change it with SS. I don't know why your officiant would ever tell you that. Regardless of the state, your name is not officially changed until you do it. I have never had anyone do that, but I would imagine if there is a correction to be made, you'll find out soon enough. NYC is pretty on top of that stuff; when my partner moved, they called him after his first NYC wedding to ask why his address didn't match his registration.... I am not a lawyer, obviously, but I know that in NJ, there is literally no mistake that can be made (including entirely losing the license, not that I've ever done that......) that makes a couple not married. I WOULD call the marriage bureau (try Brooklyn or Staten Island; same rules, quieter offices) just to make sure.

I know in NY, the office where you apply will ask you what your 'new surname' is, because they pro-actively send you one copy of your 'real' license, but that doesn't mean your name is changed.

OP, I'm sorry if I missed a comment on this, but you can't change your name legally with SS until you have your certified copy of your marriage license which you do not get immediately. In NJ, I am supposed to tell couples it takes two weeks, though it's usually faster than that.

The fact that someone would pick their pastor or rabbi doesn't necessarily mean they know the ins and outs of this. Many pastors (including my own) do one or two weddings a year.

The name you sign is supposed to match the name on your social security card. You're legally not allowed to sign your married name until you have changed your name through the Social Security Administration (SSA) and the DMV.

It really does depend on where you live and where you got married. Case in point:

I still legally lived in MA at the time I got married in NH. When we applied for our marriage license (in NH), we were both asked what our names would be after the wedding. I signed the application with my maiden name. Our officiant signed the actual license at the time of the wedding and sent it back - we did not need to sign anything on our wedding day.

NH allows you 30 days to change your name with Social Security and the state, based of your marriage license. Otherwise, you need to go before a probate judge and have a court decree issued. MA does not have this rule; as long as I had a copy of my marriage certificate, I could go at any time to the Social Security office to legally change my name there. After that, all of the pieces fell into place with the DMV, banks, etc.

This may vary by state, as well, but I needed my actual Social Security card (with my new name) in order to change my license. This may be because I was also changing state of residence at the same time (from MA to NH) but you may need to wait a few weeks to get the new one in the mail before you can go get a new license.

2ndtime, I never mentioned anything about the length of time after the wedding to go get it changed at the SSA and then the DMV, I only said one has to sign the marriage certificate AT the ceremony WITH their current legal name whatever it might be.

A lot of people don't go officially change their name until weeks or months later.

Changing your name after a divorce is a totally different thing because a judge or the court needs to be involved.

No advice but did I miss your BAM?! @savanah

It depends on your state. In Wayne County in Michigan their website states that you will sign with what your name will be after you're married.

Thanks for the info Mrs B__Mrs L,

It's still the same process though, the marriage certificate is signed after the ceremony usually at the wedding site with the officiant present. Whether it's the same piece of paper or not there was some confusion on the thread because OP used both terms in her title and post but meant her marriage certificate because she signed it before her officiant.

To clarify I'll just say both pieces of paper (or one) need to be signed with current legal name.

@Celia, I dunno. I did what my officiant told me do. She's done thousands of weddings in New York and never had an issue. I assume it's fine. If it isn't, I'll figure it out eventually.

ETA: confirmed again with my officiant that it's fine in New York.

I was told it was easier to sign your new name to prove that that is what you had intended to do. I signed my new name and I haven't had any issues changing my name at all.

I live in Oakland County Michigan. I looked into this and the court docs for the marriage license specifically requests your first and last name before your first marriage.

All went well today! Changed it at ss office no problem. She asked me what I wanted my new last name as and then I brought the receipt from the ss office and took that to DMV and they changed it there with no issues.

@kari in Michigan you get a marriage license to sign/fill out at the clerks office and they give it back to have the officiant sign and then I'm able to pick up a copy in 2 weeks (which is what I picked up this past Thursday) I didn't get anything different back than what we had all filled out.