Last name change

Your birth certificate doesn't change.
Social security, driver's license, work info, insurance, bank info, investments, all change. When I got married the first time I got the marriage certificate, with a copy of all my previous paperwork and made a day of it. DMV, social security office, bank, work. FYI its exhausting. In 52 days I do it all over again.
Good luck

You can check https://www.hitchswitch.com/namechangeform for any help you need.

Changing your last name is easy but tedious. After your wedding get a copy of your wedding certificate and start with social security then DMV and then your bank. Those you need to do in person. You'll also need to let your employer know and contact credit card companies. Your birth certificate doesn't change. Don't bother with websites that make you pay something to help with this process because it doesn't really help. You still need to do everything yourself.

View Quoted Comment I’ve heard I can fill out an application, provide a copy of the marriage certificate, and provide my old social security card, and mail it all in. They’d send me a new one. Have I heard wrong on that?

All the websites do is re-fill in some of the basic info on the forms. You still have to do all the legwork. As others have said, first you get a copy of your marriage certificate (which will be available after your officiant provides the township/state with your signed marriage license). Once you obtain a copy of your marriage certificate, you can change your name with social security. After that, you can do driver's license, passport, bank, and insurance. Those are probably the top priority. Then it's everything else (cable bill, work, credit cards, etc).

Note, if you are traveling out of the country for your honeymoon, you should change your name after you return. All of your documentation needs to match the plane ticket.

Also, there isn't an expiration date really. You can change your name whenever, whether it's a month from now or a year from now or more.

If you're going to try to outsource this, make sure you do your research. My coworker's wife used some company who reached out to her without fully vetting them and got her identity stolen. I'd be careful Bout mailing your Social Security card.

View Quoted Comment I would highly recommend you do not do this. Not only are you risking identity theft but you are giving some random online company your only social security card and paying for something that is free. I've changed my name twice now since this was my 2nd marriage and it really is easy.

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This! I would never trust mailing my social security card to a company. What happens if they aren't legit? What happens if your piece of mail gets lost and then found by a shady person. Not worth it. When I did mine I made an apt with the SS office and went in and was done pretty quickly. I still haven't changed some of my bank accounts but it's not a huge deal since one of them I literally only use for an online account that I use to pay bills. The first place my name was changed was actually work.

What I did was I took a day off work, about 1-2 weeks after the wedding (to give the marriage license time to process), and I went and picked up a notarized copy of my marriage license, then went to the social security office and changed my name there, then went to the DMV and changed my name there. As long as you have a notarized copy of your marriage license, birth certificate, and ID...you should be able to do these things quicker and in person with no issues. Your birth certificate will not get changed to reflect your new name. Me and my husband went to our banks on a Saturday afterwards and changed my name with my bank account and added each other to our accounts. Then I did the rest online: credit cards, other accounts, etc.

If you see #1 on this checklist, it’s a great place to start on where you’ll want to change your last name and it’s really well organized. https://www.weddingforward.com/wedding-planning-infographics/?utm_source=Pinterest&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=PIN-WeddingPlanningInfographics:UsefulI&utm_content=nge-checklist-after-marriage

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It all depends if you change your name on your wedding license. Some state do, some states it is a different process after the wedding. With me, once I got the certified and sealed marriage license back from the state, I went to the DMV first and got a new license. Get used to carting that license around for a bit, lol. Next up: passport. The sooner you get your gov't stuff done, the better you will be. Banks next. I was able to do SS through the mail ( a godsend as waiting three hours there was not my cup of coffee!!!)

Celeste: No you have not heard wrong. I had to mail in my old SS card and my certified copy of marriage license plus the application (plus I had to mail in my certified divorce decree but I doubt you need that, lol!) and it made me nervous BUT: I got back all my original docs very quickly and my new card came about a week after that,

Don't forget to request your employer change your withholding to a higher rate as well.

Please do not use any firm that charges you - that is a scam and probably an identity theft ring.

Some states/offices allow you to do mail in SSN name changes for a new social security card, but not all, and I wouldn’t send it to any outsourcing company— only direct. In my state, I had to go in person to the social security office, and I had to wait to have my new card in hand to go change my license. But all were super easy processes. It’s really not hard, just time consuming going from place to place and waiting for each piece to come in to do the next step.

It really depends on your state- I've heard some not accepting those packages because you weren't in person to sign for yourself.

In MD the DMV requires in-person signatures to verify SSN and previous names.

I wouldn't trust anyone to do this for you. In California it's super simple. #1 go to SS office with marriage license, get new card (paperwork), then DMV, for new license. The after you get those, go to the bank, and then mail copies to your Credit card companies. super duper easy just takes a little time.