name 'change'

i know this was asked about a year ago, but i don't remember what the outcome was.

to change one's last name is a fairly simple task. however, i am going to be adding my new last name onto my maiden name, and i've heard some brides have run into problems when doing this.

so for example, say my name is 'lauren elizabeth jones' and my husband's name is 'michael anthony smith.' my new name will be 'lauren elizabeth jones smith.' no hyphen. so in effect, my maiden name would now be my second middle name.

do i need to go to court or something in order to do this? TIA.

apparently yes you do. i wanted to do exactly that (no hyphen) and they told me i had 3 choices...keep my name, take his or hyphenate.

however, if you want to do that, you can do a legal name change which sounds a lot worse than it is. if you go to

http://www.courts.state.ny.us/courthelp/diy/nameChange.html

they will walk you through the steps of an adult legal name change on long island. its $210, you file the paper that comes out in the end with the clerk of the court of your county and then you are all set.

I'm a lawyer and i couldn't figure a way out of it other than this but to have the name i want is worth 210 bucks. :)

hth

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Posted by tree9

apparently yes you do. i wanted to do exactly that (no hyphen) and they told me i had 3 choices...keep my name, take his or hyphenate.

however, if you want to do that, you can do a legal name change which sounds a lot worse than it is. if you go to

http://www.courts.state.ny.us/courthelp/diy/nameChange.html

they will walk you through the steps of an adult legal name change on long island. its $210, you file the paper that comes out in the end with the clerk of the court of your county and then you are all set.

I'm a lawyer and i couldn't figure a way out of it other than this but to have the name i want is worth 210 bucks. :)

hth

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thanks so much for all your help!! my sister is an attorney and said she'd look into it but i didn't want to wait hahah. wow 210 - that's crazy!! i still want to do it this way and you're right, it's worth the 210 bc i really want to keep my maiden name in there.

however, i won't be living in NY right after we get married lol so perhaps it will be different there. my FSIL changed her name this way but was living in chicago and she said it was no different from just changing her name to her husband's - didn't have to go to court or anything like that. so apparently every area is different. thanks a lot!

I did something similar..
start the process NOW
You have to go to civil court to omit what you want.
Judge has to sign it.
Takes a week.
Then you need it published in a paper.
After that back to civil court with copy of paper.

Then all the way downtown to hall of records for new BC so you can take BC to get marriage license (bring a book).
This can take two months unless you bring copy of proof you are getting married to expedite.

Then, after you get married, first thing is new SS card (take license and civil papers)

then off to dmv, with 6 documents or they will turn you away!!! I bought bc, civil paper, current license, ss card, passport and marriage cert

PITA but I just finally got all of my new stuff.

oh and the whole thing costs about 200 bucks.