Unless your honeymoon is at least several months after your wedding, you should book all your travel under your maiden name.
The timeline for a name change is pretty long. You won't even get your marriage license in the mail until a few weeks after the wedding, and you will need that to change any documents including your passport. If your current passport was issued more than a year ago you will need to renew by mail, which takes weeks if not months.
> I just moved to a new state. I get married in one month (eek!) and I’m not sure if I should go through the process of obtaining a new ID in my new state just to have to do it all again the next month.
I would keep your old ID unless it is expired and/or you'll need to use it for any state-specific reason (e.g. to prove residency) before the name change process is completed. If you're just worried about being carded at bars and such you can definitely keep your old ID until you change your name.
This is what I am thinking is the way. I’m just worried about holding on to my old state ID when I could get pulled over in the new state and not have the correct ID.
I don't think a cop in your new state would be concerned about you having an out-of-state ID as long as the ID matches the registration on your car. If you were planning on changing the registration without also changing your ID you probably shouldn't do that.
Assuming you’re in the United States, you will need to do the name change on the following sequence (trust me, this is my second marriage, I’ve done all of this once for my first married name change, then in reverse back to my maiden name, and no I’m not doing it again!)
1. AFTER your travels, and after you receive your certified marriage license back from the county, go to the social security office to change it with them.
2. Bring your new social security card and change it with the DMV (both your driver’s license and your registration)
3. Bring your new ID and change it on anything money related: all your bank accounts, investments, retirement, insurance, mortgage/lease etc
4. Change it on your passport, as well as with TSAPre, Clear, and your airline/hotel rewards accounts. Also change it with any peer to peer services like Turo or Air B&B.
If you go out of sequence, you may be missing documentation from the previous step.
Believe it or not, THE most difficult places by far to change my name were Frontier Airlines rewards, and one of my investment apps. It took me a seemingly endless cycle of scanning documents, being rejected, scanning different documents, being rejected again, scanning the same original documents and being successful. They each required by far the most thorough documentation, hence by doing them last you should already have all the needed proof in order.
Forewarned is forearmed, as they say!
So you’ll need to check your specific state laws
Personally I’d probably wait till you move since you’ll need to get a new license and everything in the new state
Take this with a grain of salt since we're most likely in different states but here's what I found:
In my state you need to change your social security card before you can change your name on your license. The social security office won't allow you to begin that process until 30 days after your marriage then it takes two weeks for them to issue the card. After that the name on the driver's license can be changed at the RMV.
If you're worried about your license not being for the state you live in then it's probably best to get the correct state license with your maiden name then do the name change after. It will also probably make the name change process much easier if it isn't also a state/address change.
Your passport and the booked ticket must match. Do not change your passport until after your travels
Yes, I won’t change the passport until after we get back! Do you know if it’s an issue for the drivers license name to not match the passport though?
No it isn’t an issue. You just need to use your passport only at the airport.
Unless your honeymoon is at least several months after your wedding, you should book all your travel under your maiden name. The timeline for a name change is pretty long. You won't even get your marriage license in the mail until a few weeks after the wedding, and you will need that to change any documents including your passport. If your current passport was issued more than a year ago you will need to renew by mail, which takes weeks if not months. > I just moved to a new state. I get married in one month (eek!) and I’m not sure if I should go through the process of obtaining a new ID in my new state just to have to do it all again the next month. I would keep your old ID unless it is expired and/or you'll need to use it for any state-specific reason (e.g. to prove residency) before the name change process is completed. If you're just worried about being carded at bars and such you can definitely keep your old ID until you change your name.
This is what I am thinking is the way. I’m just worried about holding on to my old state ID when I could get pulled over in the new state and not have the correct ID.
I don't think a cop in your new state would be concerned about you having an out-of-state ID as long as the ID matches the registration on your car. If you were planning on changing the registration without also changing your ID you probably shouldn't do that.
Assuming you’re in the United States, you will need to do the name change on the following sequence (trust me, this is my second marriage, I’ve done all of this once for my first married name change, then in reverse back to my maiden name, and no I’m not doing it again!) 1. AFTER your travels, and after you receive your certified marriage license back from the county, go to the social security office to change it with them. 2. Bring your new social security card and change it with the DMV (both your driver’s license and your registration) 3. Bring your new ID and change it on anything money related: all your bank accounts, investments, retirement, insurance, mortgage/lease etc 4. Change it on your passport, as well as with TSAPre, Clear, and your airline/hotel rewards accounts. Also change it with any peer to peer services like Turo or Air B&B. If you go out of sequence, you may be missing documentation from the previous step. Believe it or not, THE most difficult places by far to change my name were Frontier Airlines rewards, and one of my investment apps. It took me a seemingly endless cycle of scanning documents, being rejected, scanning different documents, being rejected again, scanning the same original documents and being successful. They each required by far the most thorough documentation, hence by doing them last you should already have all the needed proof in order. Forewarned is forearmed, as they say!
This is superrr helpful!! Thank you!!
So you’ll need to check your specific state laws Personally I’d probably wait till you move since you’ll need to get a new license and everything in the new state
My specific state says you need to change your ID immediately. There is no grace period.
Take this with a grain of salt since we're most likely in different states but here's what I found: In my state you need to change your social security card before you can change your name on your license. The social security office won't allow you to begin that process until 30 days after your marriage then it takes two weeks for them to issue the card. After that the name on the driver's license can be changed at the RMV. If you're worried about your license not being for the state you live in then it's probably best to get the correct state license with your maiden name then do the name change after. It will also probably make the name change process much easier if it isn't also a state/address change.