clueless about marriage certificate

I got home last night from my HM and I found what I think is my marriage certificate sent from the court place and one from the church.
On my certificate (court) it states my maiden name and next to it says 'New Surname' and my DH's last name.
Question: Do I have to change my SS, DL, etc to his last name or can I keep mine??? I'm so confused........

Hey welcome back. ST thomas sends you out the marriage certificiate.

For your SS to change, you have to bring the license from the city

You dont have to change your last name if you dont want to. But I think (and Im not too sure though) if the name in the 'new surname' box says DH's name, you might have to change it....

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Posted by DonnaPWhite1124

Hey welcome back. ST thomas sends you out the marriage certificiate.

For your SS to change, you have to bring the license from the city

You dont have to change your last name if you dont want to. But I think (and Im not too sure though) if the name in the 'new surname' box says DH's name, you might have to change it....

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HI DONNA!!!!! Thank you for coming to my wedding!
I'm soo confused with this last name thing. Did you get both certificates as well??

yes if you have your DH name as your new surname then you have to go through the process of changing your name. legally you are no longer your old name.

THe one from the church is just a church document....it is not a legal document

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Posted by alli3131

yes if you have your DH name as your new surname then you have to go through the process of changing your name. legally you are no longer your old name.

THe one from the church is just a church document....it is not a legal document

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This is not true. Your name does not change automatically because you have DH's name as your new surname. What that does is give you the right to use the new last name. You will ALWAYS have the option to keep your maiden name. Just don't change your SS card, driver's license, passport, etc.

You can also change some things and keep some things in your maiden name (which is confusing but totally legal). As long as you do not intend to defraud, you can continue to use both names.

However, if you didn't put DH's last name as your new surname on the marriage license, in order to use it, you would need to go to court to have it legally changed.

If your new surname on your marriage certificate says your DH's last name, then you chose to take his name when you went to get your marriage license. You MUST change your SS card to your legal name, and this is your legal name. You can continue to use your maiden name if you want, but your W2s must have your new last name, so you have to tell them at work to change it. Otherwise the government will have a very tough time with your social security payments and matching you up with your taxes, etc.

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Posted by KYBride09

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Posted by DonnaPWhite1124

Hey welcome back. ST thomas sends you out the marriage certificiate.

For your SS to change, you have to bring the license from the city

You dont have to change your last name if you dont want to. But I think (and Im not too sure though) if the name in the 'new surname' box says DH's name, you might have to change it....

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HI DONNA!!!!! Thank you for coming to my wedding!
I'm soo confused with this last name thing. Did you get both certificates as well??

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Yeah I got one from St thomas within like 3 days and I just got our state marriage license recently!
Re: your wedding-you're welcome you looked gorgeous! Thanks for coming to mine too