Nightmare for me. Don't do what I did. I changed Passport first and ended with Social Security office several years later. Total PITA.

I am usually quite disorganized with these sorts of things, so please follow others advice. If I have any advice, start with the SSN office and work outwards.

I still can't fathom why anyone would do this.

I did it slowly over about 6 months.

As others said -
1. Get 10 or so "raised seal" copies of your marriage license. Mine from Ohio were $1.00 each
2. Go to the SS office.
3. Go to the DMV with the paper from the SS office or your new SS card and a copy of the marriage license
4. Change your major credit card so it matches your DL. Carry a copy of your license with you until you get a new card in the mail.
5. Change other things as you need to. Hotel and Airline loyalty programs, credit cards, work email, bank accounts, etc.

I've also been married 15 years and am considering changing my name. I'm 45.

I also found that SS office, DMV, bank, etc was relatively simple to do. I didn't use a service and I would advise against. You still have to be the one to stand in the line, no need to pay someone to organize your paperwork. The biggest pain has been my office. I switched my maiden name to my middle. Whoever changed my name in the system was super lazy and just added my new name to the old name, and now everyone thinks I have a compound last name despite the lack of hyphen. Sigh. It's been 3 years. People still call me by the wrong name or alphabetize me incorrectly!

Just wanted to note that, contrary to what PP says, getting a new passport with your new name is only free IF your current passport was issued within the last year (see http://travel.state.gov/passport/correcting/ChangeName/ChangeName_851.html). My passport was about 1.5 years old when I got married. I had to pay for a brand new one.

I have a few things I have never switched. Notably student loans and a credit card to a clothing store where I buy most of my clothes. My work credit card is also still in my maiden name. I made sure that all of my new documents clearly spelled out my middle (maiden) and new last name, and I've never had any trouble explaining that something is still in my old name.

I agree with PP - the hardest thing to change turned out to be the frequent flyer accounts!

It was annoying but not the end of the world. Most places took xerox or faxed copies of the marriage license. I did the SS change by mail, so I think the MVA was the only place I stood in line.

Word to the wise: do your passport quickly. I waited over a year to get that done and had to pay $110 for the change when it would have been free to do it earlier.

I thought it was shockingly easy. But, I also moved at the same time. The electric bill, water bill and phone are still in the wrong name (a misspelled name, and a middle name as last name), but that has turned into a joke as we gave up on attempts to correct it.

Anonymous wrote:I totally regret changing my name for the simple fact that 8 years later I still haven't finished changing everything into my married name. HUGE PITA!!! I suppose it depends how much time you want to spend at the SS office, DMV, getting more copies of your marriage license because the 10 you got weren't enough....etc etc etc.

Ditto. 9 years for me. Oh well. I've given up. Not really that important.

Anonymous wrote:It's not hard.

What's really hard is changing everything back after you get divorced.

I didn't even bother changing mine back after the divorce because it was such a pain the first time.