Marriage & Name Change

Pete2k16

Good Afternoon, I am not sure if I am asking in the correct place but i was hoping to get some advise on the following questions in regards to a persons name changing after marriage.
Here we go!

So next month me and my partner are getting married and we have been trying to figure out what documents and 'official things' require us to act and change/update our surname after marriage.

UK Driving license - we know this is a must and free of charge, as for the rest below we cannot find concrete advise on which definitely have to be updated to keep policies and booking active and valid so i hoping you all can help us

Car insurance, Home insurance and or any other insurance life,pet etc, I know most of these will have admin charges to make changes but are you no longer protected if you don't call and pay the fee to have your name updated and i suppose marital status changed to married instead of living with partner or cohabiting.

Mortgages and home purchase related things like land registry (taken out originally in maiden name) ?

Then the final one we get 50/50 responses on is passports. Currently having around 8 years left in current maiden name seems a bit of a waste to change but is it required? Lots of people have told us you are fine to keep your current as long as it matches any holiday booking. Our main reservation with this is we are looking at going to the USA at some point, and both have valid passports and estas. If we booked a holiday and kept all of these the same so in maiden name will it be an issue and US customs, we once were asked a few years ago at a USA airport why we lived together but wasn't married, so kinda feared what they would think if they asked again you lived at the same address but are not married but we would be? are we fearing this over nothing?

Thanks in advance for any help/advise

jackieblack

Nothing is ‘a must’...
Lots of people keep their previous surname or use both names (eg keep previous name for professional purposes and married name for personal things)
A (cohabiting with child but not married) colleague of mine changed her name by deed poll to her partners surname but kept her passport in her previous name as it had several years left to run. They’ve travelled to the USA at least 4 times since with no problems.
My daughter got married last year and went on honeymoon to USA, bookings, passport and ESTA all in previous name - no problem

74jax

My driving licence has never been changed, definately not a must. I changed my passport and 1 bank. Other bank is still in maiden name. Bills are a mixture, if they are new I think I've put in married name, if older I've just left them.

GingerSaurus

I’ve been married three years and haven’t renewed my passport yet. I’ve been abroad around 10 times during that time. I’ve always booked flights and hotels in my maiden name and had no problems.

We’ve just been to the US and no-one asked any questions. If you already have a valid ESTA in the same name as your passport and booking I can’t see that it would be a problem, how would they know you now also have a married name?

I still have a couple of years left on my passport and am considering renewing it but the MSE part of me is saying to wait until it expires!

Marvel1

Pete2k16 wrote: »

UK Driving license - we know this is a must and free of charge, as for the rest below we cannot find concrete advise on which definitely have to be updated to keep policies and booking active and valid so i hoping you all can help us

Not forgetting the registration certificate if you have a car in your name, free also.

Land_Registry

Not a must but recommended that you update the land register

Mrs_Soup

There is no obligation to change your name at all anywhere. Your current name remains valid forever. You can use the new name exclusively or the old one or both. When I got married I changed my passport because it was about to expire (and its the one thing you can change before you get married). my driving licence had points on it so I waited several years to change that when the points could be removed and I still have a bank account in my maiden name after 15 years or marriage. Utilities tend not to care what your name is so long as you pay.
Plenty of women in the US use their maiden names so if you were asked that again (sounds a very odd question anyway) you would say you are married but don;t have the same name.