Marriage: legal name change

[doomhammer]

Hello everyone,

Does anyone know what are steps to undertake for a legal name change after marriage?

I'm just planning ahead for the wife when she arrives in Canada.

Thanks all.

[marder]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/name-change/how-to.html

[DrXenon]

I got a pamphlet from the mail-order bride company that covered this. I will see if I can dig it up.

[notbill]

If by name change, you just want her to be able to use your last name, in some provinces such as BC you don't need to actually do a legal name change. In BC, either spouse is allowed to use their own last name or their spouse's last name after marriage. If you want to hyphenate a last name, that's another story - this requires a legal name change.

[brunes]

It's different from province to province but for the most part, you go to your local provincial service office, fill out the forms (you will need the marriage certificate), pay the money, and it's done. They'll then give you a new license, new Medicare. You will then need to apply to get the name changed on your SIN card. Then now that you have these pieces of ID, you need to call your bank, your telco, etc etc. and change it at all those places.

The process is pretty simple because it happens all the time so reps are used to dealing with it - it is just a lot of legwork and a huge hassle.

The most annoying one to change will be her passport - that one you have to re-apply for from the ground up again, basically. However, you don't HAVE to do that until it expires - so long as she ALWAYS travels under her maiden name - IE that has to be the name on the airplane or cruise ticket, and on the hotel reservation.