Marriage License - who KNOWS about name change?

I was thinking about the marriage license the other day and the name change that goes with it.
Who actually KNOWS/Finds out about the name change?

For instance:
My name is Jane Smith. I get married to John Doe.
So my name on my marriage license is - Jane Doe.

Both my passport and driver's license expire Jan. 1, 2015

So in the meantime, I can continue to buy airplane tickets with the name Jane Smith (since it matches the driver's license and passport)

And when it comes time to renew them, most of the time, you just send in a payment.
So you can just renew it with the old name, and nobody would be the wiser.

Same with credit cards.
Im sure they don't get informed that your name has changed.
Plus I can request additional credit cards in just about any name (since they would be secondary cards)

So I guess my question is....once the name is changed on the marriage license....does it really have an impact on your life (if you decide to ignore the new name) ?

No one knows if you don't change your name. HOWEVER, when it comes time to retire and it says that Jane Doe is supposed to receive certain amounts of money, that money never gets distributed. The state will know that your name is changed. It will cause problems in the future if you try to do something.

Example, you have a baby. The medical insurance is under Jane Smith but you want the birth certificate to read Jane Doe. I'm almost positive that you cannot put just any name on the certificate. And all the systems go by your social security number so if they don't match it's a red flag.

With security today, I wouldn't play with it. If you don't want to change your name, you don't have to on your marriage license. You can choose to keep your name.

One thing that was surprising was....we cant use the maiden name as the middle name.

For instance, if my name was:
Jane jenifer Smith (jenifer is the middle name)

I cannot make my new name:
Jane Smith Doe (smith is the new middle name)

The person at the marriage license place, said that they only change the surname.

So the new name is:
Jane Jenifer Doe (the Smith is totally gone)

The closest they can get is:
Jane Jenifer Smith-Doe

but they cannot do:
Jane Smith Doe

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Posted by jforms

I was thinking about the marriage license the other day and the name change that goes with it.
Who actually KNOWS/Finds out about the name change?

For instance:
My name is Jane Smith. I get married to John Doe.
So my name on my marriage license is - Jane Doe.

Both my passport and driver's license expire Jan. 1, 2015

So in the meantime, I can continue to buy airplane tickets with the name Jane Smith (since it matches the driver's license and passport)

And when it comes time to renew them, most of the time, you just send in a payment.
So you can just renew it with the old name, and nobody would be the wiser.

Same with credit cards.
Im sure they don't get informed that your name has changed.
Plus I can request additional credit cards in just about any name (since they would be secondary cards)

So I guess my question is....once the name is changed on the marriage license....does it really have an impact on your life (if you decide to ignore the new name) ?

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you're right. it does not impact your life.

my mom didn't know this and didn't legally change her name for 24 years until she figured out that she was supposed to

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Posted by jforms

One thing that was surprising was....we cant use the maiden name as the middle name.

For instance, if my name was:
Jane jenifer Smith (jenifer is the middle name)

I cannot make my new name:
Jane Smith Doe (smith is the new middle name)

The person at the marriage license place, said that they only change the surname.

So the new name is:
Jane Jenifer Doe (the Smith is totally gone)

The closest they can get is:
Jane Jenifer Smith-Doe

but they cannot do:
Jane Smith Doe

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Really? Maybe my friend just added a name and became Jane jenifer smith doe because all her documents now have her maiden name as a middle name