Two roads to a new name
Marriage and divorce are the shortcuts. A certified copy of your marriage certificate is all the authority you need to take a spouse's surname, with no court involved. A divorce decree can restore a former name if you ask the judge to include that line before it is signed, which saves a separate case later. Every other change, whether a new first name or a surname you simply prefer, goes through a court petition.
The court petition
You file in the civil or probate court of the county where you live.
- You complete a petition stating your current name, the proposed name and the reason, and you sign it under oath.
- You pay a filing fee, which runs from under $100 to more than $400 depending on the state, or you ask for a fee waiver if your income is low.
- Some states require fingerprints, and some require you to publish notice in a local newspaper for several weeks at your own cost.
- A judge reviews the petition, sometimes at a brief hearing, and signs the order.
Judges approve nearly every petition and refuse only a change meant to dodge debts or hide a criminal record. Expect two weeks to three months from filing to order. An adult rarely needs a lawyer, although a child's name change that the other parent opposes calls for one.
The order of operations
Each agency checks the one before it. Social Security comes first: you submit the card application with your certified order or marriage certificate, the new card is free, and the number stays the same. Give the record two or three days to update, then visit the driver's license office in person. The passport follows, and a passport issued less than a year ago can be corrected by mail without a fee. After that come your employer's payroll office, banks, voter registration, insurance, vehicle titles and retirement accounts.
The usual mistakes
Ordering a single certified copy is the first one. Buy three to five, because several agencies insist on an original. Booking travel in the new name before your identification matches is the second, since the ticket must match the document you carry. Filing a tax return under a name Social Security does not yet have on record is the third, and it delays refunds.
Tip Keep one certified copy of the order with your birth certificate permanently. You will be asked to prove the link between the two names decades from now, for a mortgage, a pension or a passport renewal.
