Name Change after Marriage

Name Change After Marriage – Legal Process + Name Change Affidavit

Do you want to name change after marriage? We have provided name change affidavit format also in this article in PDF and Docs. A name change is not a complex process. Many a time we need to change our name based on certain circumstances and occasions. That’s why we are describing the full name change process here.

Especially we will cover name change after marriage legal scenarios in today’s post.

Legally change your name after marriage

In an opposite-sex marriage, there is a tradition we follow for a long time. The woman should change her last name after the marriage. She should keep the last name of her husband.

But now the things and laws are changing. A woman is liberal to keep any name as her last name after the marriage. There is no anything like forcibly change her name.

Other than this people are also choosing some fancy names and titles these days after marriage which is good. It might be for their business or other things. We are not describing here why a man or a woman is choosing a fancy name.

Read NowHow much is my house worth? Property Evaluation

In this article, we are covering the full name change process and scenarios that occur while a name change after marriage.

  1. You want to change your last name because you want to keep your husband’s last name
  2. You want to keep some other name as your last name which is not followed by your spouse
  3. After changing your name, how to inform people about this change?

One thing I love to suggest here. If you have decided to change your name then make sure that you are happy with that name. Because it is not something which people do generally.

Name change after marriage legally and keeping spouse’s last name

It’s a quite easy process. make sure you have a marriage certificate with the latest name. It will help you to get other documents as well. You should take help from marriage registrar and get a marriage certificate with the changed name.

Start using your changed name normally like on Social Media, invitation card, when you notify for address change and for different memberships. You should reach out and call to different entities where you have accounts to change your name.

The company you are working in, the bank where your account is, your driving license, Aadhar card, Passport, Identity card, Pan card all these have a name change process. You should follow that to change your name there.

Whenever they need any document to verify your name change you can produce them marriage certificate and other relative documents.

It will take some time but the change can be seen easily starting from your family and colleagues. Later on, if you divorce by mutual consent then you can keep your name back as usual.

Changing name after marriage legally but not keeping the spouse’s last name

It is completely acceptable to keep any name as your last name other than your spouse last name. But here marriage certificate will not work. A court order will be needed for justification.

To get a court order you can use name change affidavit formats available on our website and other legal sites. There will be some sample queries to answer like why are you changing your name? Your old name, new name, a promise that you are not doing fraud with any people with this name change and others.

State wise the things can be a little different. But in general, the most commonly used forms include –

  1. A petition for changing your name legally
  2. A order to show causes for changing your name
  3. A decree to legally change your name

Once you have these forms filled out, simply go to the court clerk and file them. There should be some filing fee which you need to pay. A judge or magistrate will review your forms and grant the name change mostly.

However, you should be aware that some states require a formal advertisement of the usage of your new name, which is done simply by posting a notice in the local newspaper. When changing your name after marriage, an engagement announcement in the newspaper is usually sufficient to fulfil the formal advertisement requirement.

Informing people about your name change

This can be done in many ways. Start with hour family, neighbours, society and change name respectively on your social media handles like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, YouTube, Gmail signatures and others.

Once done you can proceed the name change process one by one with your legal documents, certificates, accounts and other entities. Some common entities which need to be informed for a name change after your name change are listed below.

  1. Schools
  2. Colleges
  3. Employers
  4. Post office (Via change of address form)
  5. Passport office
  6. Insurance Agencies
  7. Banks where your accounts are
  8. Voter ID registrar
  9. Department of Records or Vital Statistics (issuers of birth certificates)
  10. Financial Institutions other than bank where you have did KYC
  11. Debtors and Creditors
  12. Telephone company
  13. Department of motor vehicles and more

I hope this article will help you to understand the full process of name change after marriage. We have also provided name change affidavit format on your website. Follow the below link to download that.

If you have any query or suggestion, feel free to comment below. We will love to consider your requests.

Check out our latest posts

Thanks for reading.

Have a good day!

2 thoughts on “Name Change After Marriage – Legal Process + Name Change Affidavit”

  1. Hello Sir, Thanks for providing the Name change affidavit format and name change process after marriage. My spouse has changed the name in my case. He is very supportive and a smart man. We are very happy now and marriage.

    This article is really wonderful.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top
Share to...