How do I change my name after my marriage?
Marriage name change in Australia.
Here's the low down on changing your name after your marriage in Australia in 2024.
First things first…No, you do not have to adopt your spouse’s surname after you are married. This is purely your choice.
If you make this choice, there is no time frame in which you must change your name.
If you change your surname to your spouse's after your marriage, you can revert to your previous surname at any time (most people do this after a divorce) but you can do so at any time.
Yes, you can both choose a completely different surname and both adopt that, or a mishmash of your two surnames. I have had couples do all sorts of things and it’s all ok. They do require slightly different processes though. (see below)
One of us wants to take on our spouse’s surname. How do we do that?
YOU CHANGE YOUR SURNAME TO YOUR SPOUSE’S SURNAME AFTER THE WEDDING.
To change your surname to your spouse’s surname, you need to purchase a REGISTERED MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE.
The certificate you sign and receive on the day of your wedding ceremony is purely ceremonial and cannot be used for anything official. Yes, I know your parents may have done so - life has changed thanks to identity theft etc.
The process is as follows:
When I register your marriage with Births, Deaths & Marriages, I inform them that you require a Registered Marriage Certificate. I provide them with your email address, phone number and postal address. When BDM has completed your Marriage Registration process, they will email you to organise payment (around $54 for a standard certificate in Qld in 2024) and then post it to you.
You will use this Registered Marriage Certificate to change your surname on all your documents. There is no time frame in which you must change your surname on your passport, medicare card, driver’s licence, bank/credit cards, mortgages, utilities etc. Some people choose to keep their original name for work/career purposes and use their married name on other documents.
During the wedding ceremony, do I sign with my current signature or my new one??
All of your marriage documents are in your current name, so you sign with your current signature. Your name is what it currently is until you choose to change it after your marriage has been registered.
We are going on our honeymoon straight after our wedding and we think it’s really romantic to go away with our names already matching. What can we do?
I do not recommend you concern yourself with this. However, if you are insistent that your names are matching for your honeymoon and just cannot wait for the Registered certificate (which can take longer than two weeks) & for your new passport, you can go through a legal name change (previously known as ‘Deed Poll’) process & pay the $190 before your wedding. This is a legal name change, so if you need to revert to your birth name for some reason you will need to go through another Legal name change process.
We both want to change our names to something completely new after the wedding. What do we do?
The easiest way to proceed in this scenario is for one of you to go through the legal name change process before the marriage ceremony. Then, after your marriage is registered, the other spouse changes their surname by usage in the way listed above. (Please be aware that the person proceeding with a Legal Name Change would have to go through another Legal Name Change should they ever want to revert to their birth name)
I hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any further questions.