A Guide to Name Changing

When I decided to go ahead and change my name, I never gave much thought to the amount of paperwork it would take. When you think about it, your name is pretty much on everything you touch and you have to change it on everything. It sounds worse on paper than it actually is, but I thought it might be helpful to put a guide out there so people can prepare.

Step 1: Get Married! You'll need to apply for a marriage license and pay the fee to do this. It was $90.00  in Los Angeles.

Step 2: Submit your signed marriage license to your local courthouse in person or have it notarized and mail it in.

Step 3: Pay $14.00 per copy for a certified marriage license. We got 2 which I'm hoping will be plenty.

Step 4: Wait 6-8 weeks for them to mail you your certified copies. Depending on your DMV, you may want to make an appointment during this time if it has a long wait period.