So, after you get married - if you decide to change your last name - there is a lot of work to do!
Merging all of my accounts (google docs, calendar, blogger) was quite a process, but I got it done!
Rich and I went on our honeymoon, and I hadn't changed my name yet, because I was worried we wouldn't get all of the appropriate documents in time for travel which would make everything very difficult!
The day after we got back, we headed over to the Social Security Office and we were in and out of there in 15 minutes flat!
It was amazing!
So, we got excited and went to the DMV right after that...
...We weren't as lucky...
I had to take a new picture and was worried I was going to have to retake the driving test, so I was frantically studying (fortunately, I didn't have to retake the test!)
We were in and out of the DMV, without an appointment, in maybe and hour and a half
No big deal...
Actually, pretty good for not having an appointment!
I had to wait to get my drivers license in the mail to change any and all of my banking info.
That wasn't too bad, pretty easy actually!
The wait was the hard part!
While I waited for my Drivers License, I had to change my information on my health insurance...
Fortunately, that didn't give me much of a head ache!
After I changed my bank info, I moved on to changing my credit cards...
...not that was a hassle!
You can't just change your name over the phone, you have to fax a copy of your marriage licence...
I am not a big fan of faxing, because, well, I don't have a fax machine, only at work.
Once I got the credit cards figured out, I took a long break!
I wasn't really feeling like there was urgency to changing anything else.
A few months later, so almost 7 months after I got married, I finally took the plunge and got a new passport.
That was so sad because my old passport had all of my stamps from our honeymoon!
Luckily, they send back the old passport with a punch in it, so I can keep it for a memory, but it won't have the stamped on for future travel
(p.s. did you know that you aren't supposed to smile in your passport photo because of new face recognition software?! Crazy! I don't normally not smile in photos, so that was weird!)
At this point, I thought I was done!
We even celebrated!
:-)
Ok, maybe not really, but I did in my head!
I was done!
Officially Married with a New Name!
Wrong...
The worst of it all...
Changing your name for airline accounts
and hotel accounts...
What a freaking mess!
Who knew it would be so hard?!
Well, it is/was!
I had no idea!
They are sticklers about name changes!
So, now...
I have:
United Miles
Southwest Miles
Virgin America Miles
American Miles
an SPG account
They all require a copy of the marriage license and most of them also require a copy of your new drivers license...
What?!
What?!
I guess I can understand because the miles (basically) equate to money, so they want to be careful...
I just feel that if you can give them your social, your mother's maiden name, the name of your first pet, the city in which you were born and your dream name of your first born they would change the info for you...
Seriously?!
Luckily, as of now, I am just waiting on one more airline and SPG to process my name change
Phew!
Am I missing anything else?!
Can any one think of an account or something else that I may be missing?
Was this helpful for any one else?!
I wish I had dome some more research on how to make this whole process a little more streamlined!
6 comments:
Change your name with all of your Dr. offices. I've called to make appointments with my new name, and I get the, "Um..You're not coming up in our system, are you a new patient?" "Oh, try my maiden name..." Cheers!
There's a girl at my job who's going through all of this right now too and it looks like so much work!
so THAT'S why you're not supposed to smile in your passport picture anymore! I had two prior passports and smiled for both those pictures - not open-mouth, just a very small closed-mouth smile. Both were decent pics. Then I married Steve and had to change my passport, and when I went to get my pictures taken they were like UH NO SMILING DUH. And I was all "???" because I'd smiled in my previous photos and not had a problem! haha
My experience was a little different. I had to wait to change just about everything until I got my marriage certificate, which nobody told us we had to make a special request for, so after waiting and waiting for it - it was eventually over a month before I got it. only THEN could I change my drivers license and social (which were both quick). My bank was a HUGE pain in the butt- they needed a name change form notorized, and a copy of my marriage certificate. By time I got to the bank with all that, they told me I didn't actually need it notorized. But they messed up the change, and almost two years later my maiden name STILL shows up in places on my bank accounts. Credit cards were a breeze- they let me change it over the phone with no proof or anything. It's all the little things, like you say, that are most frustrating because you have no idea how many things are out there with your name on it. I just change them as they come up. I still have one bank account that I never changed because they require a written request, and I don't think it's worth it. My checks actually still have my maiden name, old DL # and old address, but nobody cares, so I refuse to pay for new ones! LOL
I bought a name change kit that gives step by step instructions and has all the forms in it.
That's what I'll be going through in about a year and 2 months, yippy, lol.
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