The decision to take on board your husband’s (or wife’s) last name can be a tough one. To some, it is perhaps the most symbolic gesture of the marriage, to others it doesn’t signify being any more or less married.
Ultimately, the choice is left to the most important people (the bride and groom) to decide and there are many reasons for and against the change.
Expense. If you have numerous assets in your maiden or pre-marriage names changing to a new surname can be considerably costly.
Hassle. It can be excruciatingly painful, chasing around town with your marriage certificate visiting every bank, office, health care centre – and various other business to make the transition to a new name.
Reputation. If you are in a position where you name is important (politics, marketing, journalism) assuming a new name might influence or confuse the people with whom you have working relationships.
So let’s assume that you’ve made the decision to change your name. How do you go about it?
Step 1) Contact Birth’s Deaths and Marriage and purchase a copy of either a standard Marriage Certificate or Commemorative Marriage Certificates (same certificate but with pretty pictures)
Step 2) Take your certificate to the RTA (or your state equivalent) and change your license to your new married surname.
After you have changed your license you will then need to hit some, if not all, of the following:-
- Banks/ Financial Institutions
- Medicare
- Internet
- Electricity
- Water
- Phone (Home and Mobile)
- Superannuation
- Store Cards
- Private Heath Care
Hyphenating your Name / Creating a New Name
Issues may arise when hyphenating or “merging” two names together. It is best to contact Births, Deaths and Marriage directly to answer your questions here.
In some instances you may be required to register a Change of Name in order to align all your legal documents.
Do I have to register a change of Name with Births, Deaths and Marriages?
Technically, No. You can assume a new name without any formal steps. So If I start insisting people call me “Twinkletoes Leadbottom” and I become known by that name, that is enough to be recognised by common law.
The difficulty arises when I want to get a passport or other legal documents under my newly assumed “Twinkletoes” at which point I would be required to register a Change of Name with Births, Deaths and Marriages.
Hopefully, this answers some of your questions regarding the name changing process. If not, email me (Twinkletoes) to find out more.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
My celebrant friend Katie (ceremonycelebrant.com.au) had this experience to share on facebook..
“When I got married I wanted to add my husband’s last name to mine. I’m in NSW. I went to the RTA with the official BDM certificate and no problems, it was done. Next to the bank. No, can’t do it. Either I stay in my maiden name or I take his but there’s no middle ground without a change of name certificate. Then they changed their mind – I could do it and I did. Next stop – NIB. No way would they do it. Maiden name or married name but no in-between. Then I called Medicare. They were incredibly confused and didn’t really know but said whatever I ended up with at NIB had to match Medicare.
By this stage I was over it. I’d only tried four places and it was too damn hard. So I called BDM NSW for clarity and was told that I could use the marriage certificate to change my name to my husband’s but I could not stick his name on the end of mine without an official Change of Name certificate from them. I was my maiden name OR his name but not a combination of both UNLESS I did an official change of name and of course paid for it.
I did not – and still do not – understand this. We’re married, I have the proof, I want to add his name to mine – why can you only fully change your last name but not add your husband’s? Seems archaic to me. So out of personal protest I went back to the bank and the RTA, changed back to my maiden name and have remained using only it ever since.
The moral to the story is: there is no consistency at all. Every agency has different rules. I have friends who have done exactly what I wanted to do with no problems at all. I think they have done what Kez says is entirely possible to do and that is simply started using the hyphenated name and assumed it ‘by useage’. But as Kez says, when you want a passport etc you do need that official Change of Name certificate from BDM.”