I will never forget the uphill battle that was changing my name after marriage. I’ve been married almost two years now and I’m STILL finding things my name hasn’t been changed on. This is one of those posts I wish would have existed when I was going through the wedding journey because I had nothing short of a million questions and no consolidated resource to find the answers. Instead I spent hours thumbing through the social security website, the TSA website, credit card/bank websites…you get my point.
Jen and I are going to tag team today’s post and hopefully offer you a one-stop shop for what needs to happen after you get married as a WAF, specifically.
WHERE DO I START?
You have a couple of options:
- You can use an app and pay to have your name changed on everything. They have a couple of different plan options ranging from $39-$99, the cheaper options are a print at home deal that work perfectly fine, the platinum option is an all-inclusive, no man (maiden name in this case) left behind type deal for all of us Type A worry warts of the world.
- You can tackle the name change yourself one government agency at a time. Don’t panic, it’s doable (I know this because both Jen and I did it), but please understand it can be time consuming.
Regardless of what you choose, you will have to get your military ID in person at the end of it all. So keep that in mind!
HOW MANY COPIES OF MY MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE DO I NEED?
This is huge. Get 3+ copies of your marriage certificate. Legitimate copies from the courthouse. Copies from UPS office do not work…Jen tried. I ended up getting 5, and still have 2 in our fireproof safe (if you don’t have one of those, please get one) which has been super helpful for a variety of things we’ve needed them for since having our baby.
TELL ME ABOUT THESE APPS THAT CAN DO MY NAME CHANGE FOR ME…
Technology is great and this is a SUPER convenient way to not let name changing get you down. Sites like HitchSwitch and MissNowMrs offer help at an affordable price. These sites will send you everything you need to get the process going and give you a fool proof list to follow to make sure you get that new name on all of your apps, email accounts, etc.
I’M READY TO TACKLE THIS ON MY OWN, WHAT’S NEXT?
I started with my social security card, because having this in my new name made getting all other documents changed a lot easier. Here is a link to the SSA website that discusses what you need and where to send it. From there, I did my Driver’s License, got my mil ID, changed my bank cards/credit cards, and then tackled all other various websites/apps I needed my name changed in (e.g., PayPal, email, LinkedIn, etc.)
HOW DO I GET MY MILITARY ID?
Your spouse will do a lot of this leg work for you. I promise, there is a checklist somewhere for how to get a dependent in DEERS that they will find. Once you are in that system, which is fully processed by the personnel office on base, you are good to get your dependent ID. You will have to go with your spouse and, as with the rest of the name change business, just bring every document you own with your new name on it. Not kidding, even your divers certification. But really you will need two forms of ID and your active duty spouse and you are good to go! The hours are always during the work day, but at many offices, you can now make appointments to help decrease your time spent waiting.
