An Arizona name change is one of the cheapest in the country and one of the few with a law behind it. The license costs $12, the car costs $4, and A.R.S. § 28-448 gives you ten days to tell MVD, with a civil traffic violation waiting if you do not.

What an Arizona Name Change Costs

Step 1: Arizona Has No Statewide Marriage Record

This is the part that sends Arizona newlyweds to the wrong building. There is no statewide registration of marriages in Arizona. The Department of Health Services does not issue or hold marriage records at all; its vital records office handles births and deaths. Your marriage record lives with the Clerk of the Superior Court in the county where your license was filed, and nowhere else.

There is also a waiting step nobody warns you about. The license “must be issued prior to the ceremony taking place, signed at completion of the ceremony, and returned by the officiator not more than 30 days after the ceremony has taken place in order for the license to be recorded.” Until it is recorded, there is no certified copy in existence to buy. So the first thing to do after the honeymoon is not to queue anywhere; it is to check that whoever married you has sent the license back. Maricopa County Clerk of the Superior Court: marriage licenses

Once it is recorded, order the copy. In Maricopa County “a certified copy can be requested and mailed to you for an additional $43.50 payable at the time you apply for the license or any time afterwards, or $35.50 if you provide a business-size” self-addressed envelope. Coconino County charges $35 for an Affidavit of Record of Marriage plus $8 to mail it, and La Paz charges $35 for an Abstract of Marriage. Arizona is not a cheap-copy state, so decide how many you need before you pay. Coconino County marriage licenses · our guide to certified marriage certificates

Step 2: Social Security, Not Online in Arizona

Social Security’s replacement card policy lists Arizona as yes for an unchanged replacement card and no for a marriage last-name change. The online route is closed here, so it is form SS-5 by mail or at a field office, with your certified copy and photo identification. Free, your number never changes, and the card takes about two weeks. SSA policy RM 10205.630 · SSA: change your name · our Social Security name change guide

Arizona has 14 Social Security offices for a state this size, so check the hours before you drive:

Step 3: MVD, $12 and a Ten-Day Clock

AZ MVD: change your address or name · form 40-5153 · A.R.S. 28-448 · our driver license name change guide

Step 4: The Car, for $4

This is the cheapest line item in the whole guide. Arizona’s certificate of title fee is $4, and that is what a name correction costs once your license already shows the married name. Update the registration at the same time so the two documents agree. AZ MVD: vehicle title

One condition worth checking before you go: if the vehicle still has a lien, MVD needs the lienholder’s written permission to add or remove a name on the title. A straight name correction for the same person is simpler than adding a spouse, so be clear at the counter about which one you are asking for.

Voter Registration

The Records That Do Not Update Themselves

• Employer and payroll first, right after Social Security, so your W-2 matches the federal record.
• Banks, cards, mortgage and loans. Most want to see a certified copy, and at $35 and up in Arizona that is the argument for buying two while the clerk already has your file open.
• Insurance, retirement accounts and beneficiary designations. The name on a beneficiary form is the one that gets checked when it matters most.
• Your passport. Federal, optional, and free on form DS-5504 if your passport was issued within the last year. See our passport name change guide.
• A concealed weapons permit, if you hold one. Arizona has a real form and a real fee for this, unlike most states: see below.

Arizona Income Tax: Line 5 of an Address Form

Arizona’s tax step exists, but it is well hidden: it is Form 822, titled “Change of Address”, and the name change goes on line 5, “Prior Name (Complete this line if the name(s) has/have changed since last filing)”, with your new name on line 3a and your spouse’s on line 4a. It covers the individual return forms 140, 140A, 140EZ, 140PY, 140NR and the rest, and has its own checkbox for updating your name for the Arizona Families Tax Rebate. Sign it, date it, and mail it to the Arizona Department of Revenue, 400 W Congress, Tucson AZ 85701-1352. No fee. Arizona Form 822

Licensed Professional?

Concealed Weapons Permit: $10, Same Number

Most states leave this vague. Arizona does not. The DPS CCW Permit Replacement Request has a “Legal name change” line with a $10.00 fee, and the form spells out the terms: “I have enclosed a copy of the court document or marriage certificate showing the change. I understand that I am responsible for returning the old permit when I receive the new one. I understand that my new permit will have the same number as my current permit.”

Pay by money order, cashier’s check or certified check made out to AZ DPS, and mail it to Arizona Department of Public Safety, PO Box 6488, Phoenix AZ 85005-6488. If your request happens to carry no fee, DPS lets you email the form instead. DPS CCW Permit Replacement Request

Which Married Name Arizona Will Print

Taking your spouse’s surname is the simple case, and it needs no court at all. The recorded marriage license is your proof, MVD lists it first among acceptable documents, and every other agency in this guide follows from there. Returning to a former surname works the same way with a divorce decree, which MVD also accepts.

Anything more creative deserves a phone call before you spend money. Arizona publishes no statutory list of permitted married names, so a hyphenated or combined surname, or moving your maiden name into the middle slot, should be settled with Social Security first and confirmed with MVD before you order certified copies or start changing bank records. Getting a mismatch between the federal record and the state one is the single most common way this process stalls.

A first name change, or a name that is not derived from either spouse, is a different legal process entirely: an application to the Superior Court in your county under A.R.S. § 12-601. Filing fees there are set county by county, so ask your Clerk of the Superior Court rather than trusting a figure you read online.

Which Arizona Office Does What

What Newlyweds Get Wrong in Arizona

So the Arizona order runs: make sure the officiator returned your license, buy the certified copy from the Clerk of the Superior Court that filed it, send form SS-5 to Social Security, wait two business days, then get to an MVD office inside ten days for the $12 license and the $4 title. Form 822 and your voter registration close it out for free. Our name change checklist covers the banks and accounts after that, and you can compare how other states handle it if you have moved recently.