Passport name change really necessary?
 

I was married last year and added my married name to my DL, Social Security card, and bank accounts (so they read Lennyba Maidenname Marriedname). My credit cards and passport are still in my maiden name. If I book my flight under my maiden name, is it really necessary to change the name on my passport? I do have time to do it, but I just renewed it less than 2 years ago and hate to pay another $67 if I don't have to (not to mention, the time it takes to get a decent passport photo!).

Just wanted to mention, you don't need a passport photo to change your name. You simply mail in your passport, they stamp it with your new name, and they mail it back.

I did the same thing you did (made my maiden name my middle name), and I had my passport changed. Better to be safe than sorry!

Strass - did you do that within a year of getting your passport? The website seems to indicate that if the passport is older than one year you have to go through the entire renewal rigamarole, including photos.

As far as I can tell, the only place a passport is checked against another document is with the plane ticket. Never have I had to show my passport with any other item of ID, so I'd go ahead with booking tickets in the same name that appears on the passport.

Lennyba,

No, I did it about six years after getting my passport. Maybe they've changed the rules! I had my name changed in my passport in fall 2004.

Hi L,

If your passport and your tickets are in the same name, you are OK.

((I))

Would there be any problem with the fact that her driver's license has a different name?

The current rule is that if the passport was issued more than one year ago, you pay the fees and submit new photos to renew it with a new name.
http://travel.state.gov/passport/get...ting_2654.html

Have you ever been asked for your driver's lic going through immigration? What about people who don;t have one? Or don;t bring it to europe since they won't be driving?

The only things that have to match are the passport and the plane ticket.

And there's no reason to ever change it if you don;t want to. What about women who never take their husbands name? Or who use it in their personal life but not their professional life? You can continue to use whatever name you want on anything - there are no legalities - it's all preference.

Very interesting! I didn't know that, nytraveler. I thought that at least the name on your passport and social security card would need to be the same.

Previous posters are correct - I just changed the name on mine. If it was issued more than a year prior, you must send in your passport and provide proof of new name (Marriage Certificate) along with 2 new passport photos. Mine took about 3 months to be returened via mail - I would pay to expedite if you're leaving soon. However, I also booked tickets under my maiden name for about a year beforehand - so that I could use my old passport a while longer. You just ahve to be sure when you book tix online that your booking name matches the ID you plan to carry.

I never take my drivers license or social security card either one on a trip to Europe with me.

To add to Katietwin's information:

Our daughter had to send in a certified copy of her marriage certificate, not just a photocopy.

Byrd

You've got 8-years to make any change. As long as the ticket and passport have the same name, you're fine.

Apparently, they've changed the rules where payment and new photos are required. It used to be just the application, appropriate license and that was it. They didn't even change the face page, just a notation on the last page of the passport. And the turnaround was real fast...like adding additional pages.

Actually, it's only Social Security that needs correct information - you're married and to whom - even if you retain your maiden name.

What has your social security card got to do with going to europe? Your SS card is to record your work history and assue you get the correct pension and medical benefits from the government eventually.

The SS Admin doesn;t care if you've ever gone to France. And France doesn;t care about your SS benefits.

sandi -

And that's only assuming you're going to collect on your spouse's income. If you're each going to collect on your own income it's not an issue.

nytraveler,

I wasn't talking about taking a SS card to Europe (why would someone do that?). I was responding to your comment that "You can continue to use whatever name you want on anything - there are no legalities - it's all preference." For some reason, I thought that items like your SS card and passport had to have your "official," legal name--not just your maiden or married name depending on a whim. I didn't realize I could go by Strass Maidenname on my SS card and Strass Marriedname on my passport, for instance.

Just trying to learn!

Hi NYT,

>And that's only assuming you're going to collect on your spouse's income. If you're each going to collect on your own income it's not an issue.<

That's not quite correct.

Married people get 1.5 x the SS income of the spouse entitled to the most money.

Married people cannot collect on their individual accounts.

That's why some Senior Citizens get a divorce, but continue living together.

It's shameful, but what can you do about old people these days? :)

((I))

Actually for married people, the spouse with the lowest Social Security benefit amount gets the higher of his/her own benefit or the spousal benefit.

(Technically, if the lowest earning spouse can get more on the other spouse's account, they get their own benefit plus the difference between their benefit and the spouse benefit.)

Ira -

Are you telling me that if I give in and marry the beau when we retire I will only get 50% of the SS benefits that I should?

How can anyone possibly justify that - I pay in just as much but only get half the amount in return?

Great - another thing to get Hilary to fix!

Nytraveler,if married you would get whatever social security benefits you are entitled to predicated upon the formula set by SS. If those benefits do not equal 50% of what your spouses social security is SS will add the difference to make the lower salaried spouse equal 50% of the other spouses social security benefit.

No doubt your own SS benefit will be more than the 50% of your husband's SS benefit.

For a spouse that has never worked or worked very little they are still entitled to 50% of their spouses SS. When I say 50% I mean over and above the 100% that the higher wage spouse receives in SS benefits.

When the higher wage earner spouse dies the surviving spouse receives 100% of what the deceased spouse was receiving from SS. But they no longer receive the additional 50%.

If the lower wage earner spouse dies the survivor continues to receive the same 100% they had before the death of the spouse. But the 50% SS benefit is no longer paid of course.

SS benefits increase annually predicated upon the CPI.

Just wanted to say thanks for posting the original question. I had changed everything besides passport as well and we may need to take an emergency flight to Greece (death in family). I assumed that I would just book the ticket under my maiden name, but wasn't sure. Thanks.

Thanks for the replies. I think my lazy (cheap!)self will just stick with the status quo and book the ticket under my maiden name.

Liz2005 - I'm sorry to hear of the death in your family. That's a sad reason for a visit to Greece. :(

lennyba and Liz, my daughter had the same situation last summer. Her FIL in Rome was suddenly very ill and dying and she and her husband needed to get on a plane to Rome immediately. She had changed all her legal documents (Social Security, Drivers License, etc. etc.) everything but her passport.

The airline said for her to book the ticket in the same name as her passport which was done. No problem. She does intend to have her passport reissued (the State Dept. no longer makes an amendment to your currect passport). Time to me to nag again!

I think where the SS card comes in - although it is SUPPOSED to be only a record of your work history - is that in order to change your name on your DL, you must change your name on your SS card first. The name on the SS card and the DL must match. This was not the case before (my names didn't quite match before I got married and it was never an issue, but now they have to match).

My passport, by the way had 2 names on it - the name on my SS card and how it was listed on my DL, one on the front and one in the back as an adendum. The names were just slightly different.

Then when I got married, I had my passport changed - another adendum in the back. You can see how this can get fun when showing my passport to airport security - LOL.

Really, why do we women have to change our names? It is too much hassle. Let the men change their name for a change!

I meant to write: "Let the men change their nameS for a change".

I've been surprised at how frequently women are keeping their maiden names these days.

We recently rented three apts. in California -- in SF, LA, and SD. What were the odds that all three apartments were owned by couples with different last names -- yet they all said they were husband and wife? Three out of three?

why would you be surprised? I'm always surprised at how many women do change their names; they have an identity for their entire life, then they marry and use another? I'm quite old, and I always thought it was an odd rule of law (until my mother informed me that I didn't have to; I think I was about 8 years old). And no, it was never a problem at all for the kids.

Changing names when getting married is a hassle. And often women end up divorced or widowed and remarry and they have to go through the whole procedure again. I know so many women that have so many different documents that do not have the same exact name, I "nag" them to get all documents in the same name.

In Italy women do keep their maiden name. They may or may not go by the husbands last name socially. That gets confusing also.

Men are lucky lol!!

If your passport and ticket are the same, you should be fine. While I traveled in Europe, I can't think of a single time I took out my driver's license...ok, except that one time I drove in Greece and rented a car. I was on a remote island, so they didn't really care if I had a license anyway. HA.

Yeah, it's a hassle to take a name...especially if you decide to give it back. I only took my 2nd husband's name because it was significantly shorter and moved me up the alphabet a few letters, and the big bonus was that it bothered my MIL who already had a Jules marry into the family. Yes, I'm that mature.

:)

Jules

By the way, I knew one woman who decided to keep her maiden name when she married a guy whose last name was Whetsey. (I think I spelled that right).
It is not insignificant that her first name was Betsy.
No, I'm not kidding. I couldn't have made that up on my own!

Well - now I'm going to have to check this SS thing out. I had (perhaps naively) assumed that we were each entitled to benefits based on our separate incomes - which would mean we would each get the maximum benefit.

Ira seemed to say that if the beau and I get married I would only get 50% of his amount - rather than the full amount I'm entitled to based on my income.

For example - he would get $2000 and I would get only $1000 even though I'm entitled to $2000. I mean - the money in total isn;t that much - and I don;t know how much we'll be able to collect anyway. We haven;t reached the age of going into this in detail yet obviously.

But I don;t see how being married should reduce the amount a person should get based on their own income history.

Have just spoken to the beau and he says not to worry - since SS income is reduced based on your other income over a certain $ amount - and who knows what any of these amounts will be in 15 years. And if we get any it will be nice - but . . .

(My only experience with this is my parents and I know my mother gets 50% of my father's SS - but she didn;t work while we were growing up - so her income wasn;t near his.)

But - if it's true that a wife gets only 50% of her husband's benefits rather than what she's entitled to it's incrdibly unfair - especially since to a lot of seniors this is a significant part of their income.

Sorry, Ira, but I think that information is wrong. I have several pairs of married friends who are currently both receiving their own full benefits.

Here is where some of the "misinformation" may have come from:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200508310003

Actually if one married partner would normally receive $1200 a month SS, and the other would normally receive $1000 a month based on their own incomes, then they will indeed get that much -- $2200 for the two of them.

I think what Ira is referring to is that if one of them would normally receive $1200 but the other would normally only receive $300, then the lower one will actually be raised to half of the higher amount. In other words the $300 would be raised to $600. Together they would receive 1.5 times the higher amount, or $1800 total-- but on the other hand if their income would be higher based on their own incomes, then they receive the full amount.

That is correct Neo!!!

And one further thing. Unless ones income after they start receiving SS is low one does have to include their SS payments to their annual income and pay taxes on it. I "think" the amount of the SS payments for tax purposes is 85% of SS payments but that may have changed.

One can get an estimate of what their SS payments will be when they retire by contacting the SS office. Also talking to ones accountant would be good too.

Good point about IF social security is around when any of us need it. My husband and I are planning for retirement as if the social security system will be gone before our retirement (we are 32 and 35, so in the interum decades between now and retirement, who the heck knows what will happen).

Yes, you young'uns - don't count on SS!
I'm already collecting, and I hardly count it in my income (granted, I retired at 62, and never made all that much anyway). But by the time they deduct your Medicare, Medicare D (drugs), whatever,(and the taxes that you have to pay on it) it about takes care of my (well-kept) dogs!

And, another thought for you girls - keep your maiden names after you marry - I wish I had! I don't think that would have bothered my kids at all.

You only pay income tax on SS benefits if you have other income above a ceratain amount, in the $50,000 range I think, so people who have SS as their principal or only income do not pay income tax on it.