Each year thousands of people who will be getting married need to consider whether or not they will change their last name. This no longer applies just to women. More often, men are considering changing their last name and more same-sex marriages are occurring. If an individual does decide to change his or her last name, such act requires a lot of administrative work to ensure information and identifications are correct and consistent.
Changing Your Name?
If you are one of these people who will be changing their name, you will want to update your estate planning documents not only to reflect the change in your name but also to ensure your new spouse is listed in your documents (for both the name-changing spouse and non name-changing spouse). If your pre-marriage Will does not include your new spouse and you do not update the Will post marriage, most state statutes provide an option for the spouse still to inherit. However, it is best to update your documents for ease of administering your estate and to ensure your spouse receives exactly what you want him or her to receive.
If you had a health care directive or power of attorney in place before marriage and your new spouse is not listed as your health care agent or attorney-in-fact, marriage will not override these documents. Therefore, if you prefer your spouse to be your primary or successor health care agent and/or attorney-in-fact, these documents will need to be redrafted. In addition, you will want to ensure that your beneficiary designations on various policies, such as retirement plans and insurance policies, are updated to list your new spouse as a beneficiary and/or to ensure their name is accurate. As is the case with health care directives and powers of attorney, marriage will not automatically change the beneficiary designation on these plans and therefore, if your spouse is not listed as a beneficiary on a plan, he or she will not inherit any assets from that plan.
Here is a list of other items that you will want to update should you change your name:
- Social Security Card
- Driver’s License
- Passport
- Professional Licenses – Attorney License, Doctor License, Real Estate License, Notary License, etc.
- Credit Cards
- Bank Accounts/Checks
- Car Registration
- Car Insurance
- Life Insurance
- Medical Insurance
- Medical Records/Doctors’ Offices – primary care physician, dentist, optometrists, etc.
- Post Office Records
- Employment Records
- Retirement/Investment Accounts – 401(k), IRA, Pension, Stocks, Bonds, etc.
- Homeowner’s/Renter’s Insurance
- Mortgage/Loans
- Property Titles/Leases
- Safe Deposit Box Records
- Student Loans
- School/Alumni Records
- Utility Listings – Telephone, Cable, Electricity, Gas, etc.
- Voter Registration Records
- Subscriptions – magazines, club memberships, AAA, etc.
One other helpful hint to be aware of is that if you are going on a honeymoon immediately after the wedding, do not book your flight reservation using your new last name. The name on your flight reservation needs to match the name listed on your identification (driver’s license or passport) and you will not have received your new identification before your trip.
