Name Change with Marriage or Divorce (Part 3)
Hi. I’m Alex and I’m here to talk about the name change process if you have marriage or divorce in your
future. Will it change your last name? If you’re wondering, this is the video for you.
First, I’ll go over how to change your name after a marriage. The second part of the video will cover
divorce.
If you want to change your name outside of a marriage or divorce, check out part one of this series,
Name Change for Adults. Part two explores changing a child’s name.
Let’s start with marriage.
By the way, congratulations if you are recently married.
In Maryland, each spouse can choose to take the other spouses’ name. You can choose a hyphenated
version of two names or any other name. But you need to be consistent in the name you use and the
name change can’t be for any illegal purpose.
You can start using your new name as soon as you are married. You need a certified copy of your
marriage certificate to change your name on important identification papers, such as your driver’s
license and social security card. If you were married in Maryland, get a certified copy of the marriage
certificate from the circuit court in the county in which you were married. You may have to pay a fee.
Once you have it, you can contact your local Motor Vehicle Administration or Social Security office for
steps to complete the name change.
There are no court forms involved if you want to change your name because you got married.
The process in a divorce is different.
When you divorce, you ask the court for an order to resume using your prior name. If you can, do it at
the time of divorce. The question is right there on the divorce forms. But you can ask for the order to
resume using your old name for up to 18 months after your divorce is final.
We have details about this process in a video series on Divorce at mdcourts.gov/divorce. Part 7 in the
series covers How to Restore Your Former Name. But don’t worry. You aren’t required to publish a
notice of the name change.
You can only use this process to go back to a name that you used in the past. You cannot get a new
name. If you want a new name, watch part 1 of this series, Name Change for Adults.
A quick recap:
You can start using your new name as soon as you’re married. You will need a certified copy of your
marriage certificate to have your name changed on legal documents. And if you are getting a divorce,
you can ask the court to restore your former name in a divorce proceeding.
