Name Change After Marriage for Newlyweds

Looking for name change advice or some tips for newlywed life? The MissNowMrs experts have created state-specific name change articles and checklists for you. We’ve chronicled our recommendations for how to travel while changing your name AND how to handle voting during the transition.

We’ve also compiled our best guidance for how to handle difficult sister in laws, holidays as newlyweds, the ever-annoying baby questions, and much more. Why? Because, while we are name change experts, we’re also newlywed wives, moms, and sisters.

We hope our name change advice articles help smooth your transition to your new name, and a whole new phase of life. Congratulations and best wishes from the entire MissNowMrs team!

Married Name Change: Big National News

Married name change: Big National News… this phrase doesn’t happen that often. Name change has always been big news to MissNowMrs (for obvious reasons), but suddenly the whole worlds seems to be interested in this topic. From the Facebook survey indicating 65% of women change their names to Hollywood starlets contemplating taking their husbands’ last names, there is more and more buzz around name change.

Talking to feminists about name change after marriage can causing some serious soap box sessions about equality and spousal ownership. Personally, I am all for woman power and independence, but I don’t think changing your name indicates that you are subordinate to your spouse. I believe that the up-swing in married name change indicates that more and more women feel completely equal in their marriage and don’t need to keep their names to keep their identity.

Married name change isn’t for everyone, so if you don’t want to change your name…don’t! If you are curious about the idea of changing your name, there are many options available to brides these days. You can take your spouse’s last name, take your last name and his/her last name without a hyphen, take your last name and his/her last name with a hyphen, or take your maiden name as a new or second middle name.*

My most important suggestion is to talk to your spouse about your name change decision. They may feel very strongly about you taking their name in some form, or they could be open to taking your last name! Whatever married name change decision you come to, make it together. A happy marriage is built on communication and compromise!

*Please note that brides living in PA, WA, NJ, and OH do not have the option to take their maiden names as middle names based on state legislature. NY brides must file their forms in a specific order to take a maiden name as a middle name and CA brides must list their maiden name as a middle name on their marriage license to be able to change their names in that manner.

Have you seen married name change big national news in your paper or on television? What do you think about the hype?

MissNowMrs Name Change Gift Cards in Davids Bridal Stores!

Exciting news! MissNowMrs gift cards are now available for sale at all David’s Bridal 300+ stores! That means that brides and newlyweds nationwide can purchase married name change gift cards for themselves or for bridal shower/wedding gifts in stores or online.

As an entrepreneur it is very gratifying to see a company life-long goal come to fruition. I remember founding MissNowMrs and hoping to someday make large wedding industry partnerships that would put my service in front of millions of brides. MissNowMrs is the very first company to EVER sell a gift card in a David’s Bridal store, and we are very proud of the achievement!

Curious what the gift card is good for? MissNowMrs gift cards give the recipient a free name change account. This account auto-completes all of the necessary name change forms in the U.S., such as the Social Security form, IRS 8822, U.S. Passport form, State Driver’s License form, Vehicle Registration Form, Voter Registration form as well as custom notification letters for all banks, credit cards, insurances, utilities, professional licenses, etc. Sum total, that $29.95 gift saves each bride over 13 hours of name change hassle!

Help Me Change My Name

Half off MissNowMrs Married Name Change Gift Cards on Living Social!

Looking for a deal on married name change gift cards? Is your spring calendar packed with a bevy of engaged friends’ bridal showers, bachelorette parties and weddings? 2.3 million couples get married each year in the U.S., and chances are you know a few of them!

Looking for the perfect shower or wedding gift?
A MissNowMrs.com gift card will save a bride 13 hours of hassle on her married name change. That’s 13 hours she can spend decorating her house and hanging out with her spouse instead of standing in endless government office lines.

It gets even better. Right now, Living Social has a nationwide deal offering the MissNowMrsservice or a MissNowMrs gift card for $15! What better time to stockpile gift cards than right before wedding season kicks off in April?

Check out the Living Social Wedding Sale before it sells out and tell your friends!

Newlywed Taxes: Name Change, Returns & Expectations

Need some help understanding newlywed taxes? It’s that time of year again…time to sort through the folders of paperwork you’ve saved and file your taxes. As you prepare to file taxes jointly or separately as a newlywed couple, there are a few things to keep in mind.

Name Change and Newlywed Taxes

If you or your spouse changed your name after your wedding, be sure to alert the Social Security office by filing the SS-5 form. When the Social Security Administration issues your new social security card in your new name, they typically alert the IRS. Here’s another article on the topic of name change and taxes as newlyweds.

Worried that your name change might slip through the cracks? File the IRS 8822 (it’s free) and you can rest assured that you’ve completely covered your name-change with the IRS. The IRS 8822 form alerts the IRS of your new name, preventing them from holding your tax returns should they be confused about your identity (yes that really happens).

Mine, Yours, Ours

As a single woman, I loved to get my tax return and put a portion in savings and then use the rest to splurge on something great! Be it a purse, furniture or a trip, my tax return sprees took some of the sting out of what I handed over to Uncle Sam. When I got married, I suddenly had someone else’s return money and ideas to deal with.

Now that you’re married, I suggest having a discussion with your spouse about what to do with your returns. If you filed together, will you both determine what to do with the lump sum? Will you split it evenly? Will you split it based on who made what? Tricky questions to answer, but much better to hash expectations and ideas out now then fight about them when the check comes in the mail.

How are you handling newlywed taxes? Have you ever had an argument about it? Have you come up with a great solution?

Passport Name Change: Filing Secrets

Pssst we have passport name change filing secrets for you. Ready to change to your married name on your U.S. passport? After you complete your DS-82, DS-5504 or DS-11 form, have your new photos taken (hopefully they turn out lovely) and collect all of the supporting documents you need to file with, it’s time to mail the whole kit n caboodle to the State Department. Feeling a little nervous about mailing in your current passport? That’s completely natural.

Here’s the secret to problem free passport filing: send your envelope via USPS Priority Mail. FedEx and UPS will not deliver to a PO address, and that is exactly what the State Department address is. If you use one of those companies to ship your passport envelope, it will be returned to you as undeliverable.

This is bad for a few reasons. One, you’ve delayed the processing of your passport several days. Two, you’re out the money you spent to ship your envelope and must now go to the post office and pay their shipping fee. Finally, your passport envelope may be left on your front porch or out in the open where someone could walk away with it…scary!

Once you’ve mailed your envelope via USPS, you can rest assured that it will be delivered to the State Department and your new passport with your new married name will be created and mailed back to you within 5 weeks. Now you can start planning a fantastic trip to christen your new passport! Let us know where you’re headed now that you have our passport name change filing secrets.