Legally changing name at court house but passport still in maiden name at time of honeymoon

A lot of states won't let you start the name change process until the marriage is legal, so the license is signed & processed through the courthouse. I'd probably just wait until after the honeymoon to change anything so all your documents match.

Applying for the marriage license does not legally change your name. Your name won’t be legally changed until you go to the social security office and get a new social security card. Unless you’re talking about going in front of a judge to legally change your name before you get married?

No, most of the time, your name has to match on all travel documents. If you show up at the airport with a Driver's license in one name, and a passport in another, you're going to be stuck. Even though your marriage license is processed through the court, it's not the same thing as a legal name change. That requires even more forms, and fees, and usually isn't final until a marriage ceremony is performed. You should take your honeymoon under your maiden name, and finalize all documents when you get back.

Yes, this is all quite alright.....just continue to use your maiden name until you get back from the honeymoon, because you're right, your passport and travel documents all have to match.

Think of it this way - your marriage license only qualifies you to change your name as of the wedding date. The actual name change itself doesn't happen until you make it happen, by going to the social security office, DMV, etc.

I guess I’m confused because of this (see picture). This is from the court where we need to get our marriage license. It requires I say I’m changing my name ahead of time and if I do it later if says we have to REMARRY?! very confused lol I didn’t plan to change anything till after wedding but according to this, if I want to change my name, it’ll go into affect WHEN/THE VERY DAY we are married (I.e., before I get a chance to change any other documents in time for our honeymoon. Everything else will have my maiden name). Help! Lolol

This is from court

Sorry for the second post! Just wanted to highlight another line in there

Here it issssss.

So is it that this doesn’t count as a legal name change? Or does it? Feels legal 😬

I would call the court house for clarification.

If your passport, drivers license, and social security card don't match up while traveling, this can cause a LOT of problems. You can't even board a plane if your drivers license doesn't match what is on your plane ticket,etc. This is why i chose to wait until after the honeymoon to offcially change my name. The only way to legally change your name is at the Social Security office. When you apply for a marriage license, you apply under your current name being your maiden name. You cannot change your name at the courthouse as far as I am aware. For it to be official you will need to be issues a new social security card and take that to go get your new name on your driver's license, passport, etc. Hope that helps!

I wish that were the case! That’d definitely simplify things lol According to the city clerk office i have to state that I’m legally changing my name BEFORE the wedding and it goes into affect THE DAY we are married. This won’t impact my passport, drivers license, social security or anything like that. But with this particular office I’ll have legally changed my name. Since it’s just at the city level should this not really matter for international travel? Especially since all my other government issued things will still be in my maiden name? This is the only discrepancy there will be, I just don’t know where this gets processed/displayed 😬

Don't worry about it - it's just semantics, and a poorly worded application form. It's saying that if you choose to change your name with this application, it takes affect as soon as you say I do. But, the DMV, the airport people, your phone company, your email provider, your job, and everyone else in between, DONT KNOW THAT until you officially take steps to notify them. Don't take those steps until you get back. Each of those people will have their own official date that the name change took effect in their records. None of that really matters. All the marriage license thing is saying is that if you elect to keep your maiden name now, and indicate that on the form, but then change your mind in a month or a year or a decade, you have to start over.
You're fine. I promise. Don't change your license or SS# or passport til you get back. Have fun!

Since the name change has not been processed by any agency other than your county clerk, it should be fine. Don't do anything else, go on your honeymoon, and change it with the social security office once you get back.

As a practical matter, so long as all your ID matches when you go on your honeymoon, you won't have issues. No one is going to ask to see your marriage license/certificate during your travels. You can go through the name change with Social Security, driver's license, etc., when you get back.

Thank you all! That’s really reassuring and helpful! Thank you!

View Quoted Comment This. There are different ways you can change your name, marriage being only one of them. The form is just saying that you are legally changing your name with the marriage, but you still have to do all the leg work to change your name. Absolutely no one else is going to know until you do. And it takes a couple of weeks to get your new SS card, and you need that before you can go to the DMV, usually. So you're completely fine.

I believe the application is saying that in order for you to change your name, you have to indicate on the application and it goes into effect after the ceremony - not before. To which, you still have to go to Social Security to make it formal. If you do not choose to indicate you want to change your name, then you can not randomly decide after you are married that you want to change your last name. If you do decide you want to, then you have to get married again. This is because you can not just decide on a whim to change your name. You need a qualifying reason and then the okay/letting the government know so you can actually get it done. Since you need your marriage certificate to change your last name with Social Security, it is the okay for them to do so. If you do not have that, you do not have anything giving you “permission.”

Idk what the heck that “must remarry” bit on the website is talking about. But, it doesn’t matter. (Unless you live somewhere outside the US) The ceremony and license/certificate business do not *change* your name exactly, but rather, allow you to start the process. That page is worded very oddly. Many things vary from state to state, but it’s all basically the same across the board : have ceremony, get paperwork, go to Social Security office to apply for new card with new name. Then take that to get new license, and then everything else once you have your photo ID.


As an example on our application for our marriage license it had a line for “surname after marriage” and I put my new last name...but I didn’t really consider myself my new last name until I went for my social security card....which I should add, I waited a month or so before starting the process *because* of travel booked in my maiden name. It wasn’t til after returning fr
the trip that I started the process.

the MOST IMPORTANT THING!! About travel is your flight tickets/travel documents MUST match the name on your passport/id to travel. So, you cannot book flights in your married name! Until you have a photo ID to match.