I changed my name right after I got married, and you basically have to do your social security card first and then everything else whenever afterwards. You have to send a copy of your marriage certificate in with the application for most everything, including the social security card. It took 8 weeks for me to get my new social security card and my marriage certificate back. I got 2 copies when I applied for my marriage certificate, I think you can get another copy now if you don't want to send your only copy into social security. I didn't think that there was a time limit to get things changed. In fact, I just finished paying off my car and have to go through the process for my title, license plates, registration and city sticker as soon as I get my title back. I would contact social security if I were you and double check about the paper thing, that seems crazy. Maybe that is the case if you just want to change your name and don't have a marriage certificate.