I am getting married this year and do not want to forego my maiden name. Unfortunately, I am having a difficult time understanding all my options. Ideally, I would like to keep my maiden name professionally and use my married name personally. How can I accomplish this? For example, if I were to change my name to Jane Doe Married, could I use them interchangeably? How does this work with my driver's licence, loans, credit cards, banking, etc.?
Thank you!
You have to leave everything "official" or "financial" like your drivers license, social security, credit, banking, etc. in your maiden name. You can't use both names interchangeably on bank accounts because of the Patriot Act rules. If you change your driver's license or Social Security Card to the married name, everything financial, official, and work related will have to be changed over to the married name. If you change your Social Security or driver's license to your married name, you will have to legally change your name back to your maiden name before they can change it back for you (either by filing for a legal name change or as part of a divorce). You can use your married name socially, for instance, introduce yourself to people by your married name, make a Facebook page, personal e-mail, etc.
