Make your new name official, everywhere.

It depends who's on the other end. Government filings (Social Security, passport, DMV, voter) have to carry your own signature and certified documents, so no service can legitimately file them for you. We prepare those so your part takes minutes. For private accounts, we write every notification email ready to send from your own address in one tap. Banks and airlines verify identity themselves (in person or in your account), so for those we give you each company's exact process instead.

Never. By default we leave SSN fields blank for you to hand-write on the printed form, since it's signed by hand anyway. If you'd rather we fill it in, you can type it at download time and it goes straight into the PDF without ever being stored.

Yes. Social Security, the passport agency, and your DMV accept a foreign marriage certificate as the document behind your name change; if it isn't in English you'll carry a certified translation for some of them. Tell us the country on the marriage step and your checklist adds those details and tells you which agencies want the original in person.

Yes. Pick “I live outside the U.S.” on the start screen and your checklist routes Social Security through the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate (form SS-5-FS) and your passport renewal through the same office, and drops the steps that only exist stateside (DMV, voter registration). Everything else, from banks to airline miles, is the same packet. Changing your name on another country's records too, or only there? Pick that country on the start screen instead, and see the free country guides at changeyourname.app/name-change-abroad.

All three are handled. Taking your spouse's surname works with the certificate in every state; hyphenating the two does almost everywhere. A husband taking his wife's name, or either spouse in a same-sex marriage taking the other's, is written into most states' law and needs a court order in a handful. The name step tells you your state's answer as you type, and in the states that require the new name to be written on the marriage-license application, we ask whether it was.

Only as paperwork. Social Security and the passport office may ask for the certified document behind each name you've held, so the earlier divorce decree plus this marriage certificate is the chain. The name step has a place for every previous name, and your checklist says which forms ask.

Yes, if your divorce decree includes a name-restoration clause (most do when you asked for one). Social Security, the State Department, and your DMV accept a certified copy of that decree exactly like a marriage certificate, and we build the same packet around it, with the passport forms marked “changed by court order” using your decree's date and court. If your decree doesn't restore your name, you'll usually need a separate court order first. We can't prepare court filings, but your checklist still maps out every update for once you have it.

Yes, that's exactly what our court-order path is for. A judge granted your new name and what's left is the long list of updates. We prepare every form and letter around your certified court order as the proving document: SSA, passport, DMV, voter registration, banks, and the rest, in the right sequence.

Yes. Tell us your status on the “About you” step (it's worded the way the Social Security form asks it), then say on the documents step which U.S. immigration document you actually hold. A green card gets the USCIS Form I-90 step; a visa or work permit gets the I-765 and I-94 step instead; neither one gets you a form you can't file. U.S. voter registration is always left out, since registering as a non-citizen is a serious offense, and the U.S. passport step appears only if you hold one. Your name on your own country's records is a separate change: name that country on the documents step and its steps join your checklist, or read the free country guides at changeyourname.app/name-change-abroad.

Whichever one applies to you. Issued less than a year ago, that's the DS-5504 (free). Within 15 years, the DS-82 by mail. Older, or your first, the DS-11, pre-filled for your in-person visit. Figuring out which is exactly the part you don't have to do.

Our part takes about 10 minutes of questions, and your packet is ready right away. The agencies set their own pace: SSA typically 2 weeks, DMV same-day in person, passport about 4–6 weeks routine plus mailing as of Sept 2026 (check travel.state.gov for today's time). Your checklist sequences everything so nothing blocks anything else.

We help adults change their own names. A child's name change runs through family court with the other parent's consent or formal notice and a best-interest review, so start with your state court's self-help center or a family-law attorney.