I've been married for 5 years almost, but have never changed my last name legally. So, am I legally married? Even though I never filled out or turned in any paperwork to change my name, and never got the marriage certificate notarized or signed or whatever. So, am I actually married? I know that sounds silly, but it's just never came up in any conversation I've ever had or heard. Something I heard on tv earlier made me question it, so I'm just curious. Thanks y'all.
Oh my goodness, Thank You All so much!! I was just sitting here feeling silly after I read something online, and got to thinking about things. After reading all of your comments though I checked with the pastor of our church, who married us, and is a very good friend of ours, and he assured me it was taken care of the day after he married us. I just couldn't remember if we signed anything or not. He said, V. you wouldn't have known if a clown came crashing in your wedding and let fireworks off, you and Scotty (my husband) couldn't take your eyes off each other the whole ceremony and the reception. lol. So I got things figured out Thanks to all of you, I really appreciate you Mamas on here! Thanks again!
Your name change is irrelevant. The unsigned marriage certificate is.
Damn. I've been married for almost 17 years and this was all taken care of by the person who married us. After the ceremony, we signed our certificate and our best man/matron of honor signed as witnesses and the clergy took care of it from there. If you do NOT have a signed marriage certificate? that's a problem.
Call your local court house where you got married to find out if your marriage certificate was submitted by the clergy or justice who married you.
You do NOT need to change your name to be married. There are plenty of women who keep their maiden name.
Do you remember who married you? What did THEY do with the marriage certificate?
Good luck!
I'm legally married and did not change my name. Taking your husbands last name is not a requirement of marriage.
The day of the wedding, your pastor or whoever performed your ceremony should have had you, your husband and 2 witnesses sign your marriage certificate and send it in to the county to make it valid. You can check with your county court house to confirm that this was done or not. Good luck.
Did you apply for a marriage certificate? I didn't turn mine in - that part was handled by our pastor. In my state, the couple doesn't actually sign their own license, their witnesses do and then the officiant files the paperwork.
Whether or not you changed your name is irrelevant. How do you file your taxes?
If you, your spouse and an official (judge, pastor, justice of the peace, etc) signed the marriage certificate then you are married. If you never signed anything then I guess you have a common law marriage but some states don't recognize them. Your name doesn't have to be changed. I kept my surname.
If you had your marriage license signed by your officiant and two witnesses AND mailed it in to your city/county clerk, then you're married.
If you didnt turn your signed marriage license over to the proper authorities, then no, you're not legally married.
Your last name has nothing to do with it.
Changing your name has nothing to do with whether you are married or not. Many women keep their last names. It has to do with whether you got a marriage certificate/permit and if that was filed by your church, etc.
If there was nothing filed, then you are not considered legally married.
I have been married four years. You get the marriage certificate, I opted to leave them a self addressed envelope and paid an additional dollar so they would mail the official certificate back, otherwise it would just be on file. I handed my marriage certificate to the church secretary. That was that, I am married.
If you handed it to whoever did the ceremony you are legally married. You have to have a copy of the filed certificate to change your name and that is sitting in the recorders office where ever you got married at.
I went three years without changing my name on my license because I refused to pay an additional 15 bucks and have it expire in three years. My passport will not be changed for another 6 years and there is a 150 reasons for that! Still haven't bothered with my social security number but guess what? I am legally married!
Oh, we signed it when we applied for the marriage license, our witnesses signed it after the ceremony. The church secretary mailed it in.
You don't have to change your name.
You do have to file the marriage certificate.
Pretty sure your pastor or whoever performed the ceremony should've done that for you.
If you didn't file the completed forms, the marriage isn't valid. There's usually a decorative marriage license (for the couple) and a more legal-looking form to be signed and returned. The last name part doesn't matter-- the certificate, though, does.
name shmame. no requirement there, but you DO have to submit a signed and official marriage certificate, obviously.
are you sure the officiant at your wedding didn't take care of it?
khairete
S.
Elyse E is right.
You're not married.
If you don't want to be married - you don't have to have a divorce as you have things right now.
If you do want to be married then contact city hall and have a civil service.
You don't have to change your name if you don't want to.
You can't contract a common law marriage in Ohio since 1991.
There is no legal requirement to change your name, but if you failed to file your marriage license with the courts then you may not be legally married, although in many states filing joint taxes could mean you are "common law" married. I would find out, if your spouse gets sick or hurt there are many protections and rights you will not get if the marriage is not legal.
I can assure you that a person can be legally married without changing her name, AS LONG AS the marriage certificate is filed with the city officials. In our case, we and our bests signed the form and the judge officiant filed it. I did not change my name. I know that we are officially married because the only way my non-US-citizen husband was able to get permanent residency was through that marriage (and lots of paperwork and waiting 2 1/2 years for it to go through). I would be very surprised if whoever officiated at the wedding didn't have you sign the certificate, though maybe you needed to file it.
Changing your name has nothing to do with whether or not you are legally married. Filing a license signed by an authorized officiant and the number of witnesses required by your state is what makes you married.
If you marriage license was ever signed by whoever performed your wedding, and was never filed at the courthouse, then no, you are not legally married.
If your marriage certificate wasn't signed and turned in then nope you aren't married. Check with the town clerk in the town your marriage was performed in to make sure you are legally married.
As far as not changing your name? Doesn't matter a bit. You can legally be married and keep your maiden name without an issue. I changed mine because I was not a professional who had a career where I had established myself with a particular name. If I had I would have certainly kept my name.
so is it weird that sometimes I have the feeling that my husband and I aren't technically married? I know we had the ceremony and party. (heck I remember signing the certificate). But sometimes i have a paniky feeling it wasnt finalized. Like I forgot. Then I think no I have the certificate were good. Sometimes I have the same feeling that I never finished HS. HAHA
Yes. You don't have to change your name.
