ADVOCATE

Legal Name Change is basically a legal procedure in which, an individual is enabled to acquire a new name, other than the one that was given to him at the occasions of his birth or adoption or marriage. The criteria to go for a name change, as well as the rules and regulations following the procedure largely depend on the local laws of an individual’s residence and nation. Mostly, the common law authorities are a bit liberal to the legalities owing to a name change, in comparison to the civil law authorities.

How to go for a Legal Name Change process?

1) In case of marriage, usually the individual is given a license by the state to document a name change legally, which is properly recorded and documented.

2) Once the legal name change process has been done, there are various other formalities that need to be taken care of. Just changing your name in your passport or Social security does not mean that your name has been changed legally. An individual needs to proceed ahead with changing their identification logbooks and records too. The standards decided by various government authorities and private organizations, differ from each other. Some might follow simple procedures like just making a phone call in one organization, whereas others might need a written document/letter, as well as some other supporting documentation too. Many might ask to fill up a pre-designed form, along with demanding a certificate justifying your action of name change, appropriately approved and signed by the government or court.

3) The most important and complex part of the whole procedure is, changing the names on your records, which gets even more complicated with a wide range of variance in the requirements of different organizations and institutions. The cases of name change are so rare, that many of the officials are also not properly aware or informed about the correct and accurate formalities. Moreover, they seldom admit their ignorance, and often confuse an individual with pointless queries, document submissions and related processes, which ultimately leads to a mutual frustration and delay.

4) The whole process of changing the records can be properly organized and executed with a pre-defined plan, which may be quite facilitative. One should start with their legal documents that are general and used in almost all the spheres of their day to day life, e.g. a driver’s license, social security. This will assist in getting names changed in many other legal documents and records dependent on these.

5) Following is a list of some administrations and legal documents, which need to be considered while going for a name change in records:

1) Drivers License

2) Passport

3) Social Security

4) Post Office

5) Voter Registration

6) State Tax Board

7) Bank information
Credit Card information

9) Retirement plans

10) Employer registration

11) IRS

12) Insurance Companies

13) Medical records

14) Club memberships

15) Other Memberships

16) Wills and related plans

17) Health Care Proxy document

18) Living Will document

19) Revocable Living Trust

20) Power of Attorney document

21) Other Contracts

One needs to fill the related forms, and show proper documentation to get the process done in all above mentioned areas. Apart from these activities, even though the legal process of changing a name is quite simple, it may make you go through some strange reactions from other people, both in social and professional front, as well as in all above mentioned legal authorities too. It takes time to deal with such situations, but after a while people get used to your new name, and tend to accept it.