Are you getting ready to change your name and dreading the process of updating all the various accounts and systems? Perhaps we can help…
Below is a list of the most common places where you’ll want to update your name. Always start with the Social Security Administration. Most other federal and state agencies will look here for confirmation of a name change. Once it’s updated with SSA, it’s “official” and you may begin to update all the rest, but I recommend you change your state ID next.
From there you can pace yourself and tackle the list one at a time. Each agency/company has its own requirements, so it’s good to call and ask. I suggest you send them the least amount of information required and don’t assume they need a marriage or divorce decree, which has a lot of your personal information. If they will accept a copy of your updated license with a letter of instruction, then provide just that.
Another thing you can do to make your life easier is to start gathering all these forms ahead of time and pre-fill them, but don’t sign or date them until the change has occurred. Once you have a court document, you’ll have everything ready to sign and submit.
Lastly, you don’t need to do all this for a simple address change. In many cases, you can simply contact the post office to inform them of your updated address. However, they’ll update the marketing folks too! If you want to eliminate the forwarding of junk, be sure to opt out of sales mail. More on that in THIS blog post.
You can find that Name & Address Change Checklist here!
If you found this information useful, please join me in spreading the word to others it might help. Thank you!