Changing your name after marriage in Arizona
What Arizona asks for, where your marriage certificate comes from, and the order that works. Every figure below is dated and linked to the agency that publishes it.
To change your name after marriage in Arizona you need a certified marriage certificate, then Social Security, then Arizona MVD.
Social Security comes first. Every state checks your new name against its record before issuing a license.
In Arizona, a certified marriage certificate comes from the county that issued your marriage license.
Arizona asks you to update your license within 10 days.
The marriage certificate Arizona wants to see
This is the part that differs by situation. Everything downstream of it is the same sequence whichever document you hold.
| What | Value | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where to get it | The county that issued your marriage license Arizona keeps marriage records at county level. The record is held by the clerk of the superior court in the county where the marriage license was issued. | Clerk of the Superior Court, in the county that issued the license | |
| What a copy costs | Arizona has no state marriage-records office. Each county's Clerk of the Superior Court sets its own fee. | Clerk of the Superior Court, in the county that issued the license | |
| What Arizona MVD charges | $12.00 Replacing an Arizona credential costs $12. MVD prints the figure on its replace-your-license page and on the mail-in name-change packet. | Arizona MVD |
If you married in another state, order from that state instead. The record sits where the license was filed, not where you live now.
What after marriage changes about it
- In Arizona, a certified marriage certificate comes from the county that issued your marriage license — Clerk of the Superior Court, in the county that issued the license.
- Arizona has no state marriage-records office. Each county's Clerk of the Superior Court sets its own fee.
- Arizona keeps marriage records at county level. The record is held by the clerk of the superior court in the county where the marriage license was issued.
- The license is the permission to marry and is issued before the wedding. The certificate is the record of it and is issued afterward. Agencies want the certificate.
- Social Security accepts a certified marriage document as evidence of the new name on form SS-5.
Source: Clerk of the Superior Court, in the county that issued the license · checked
The sequence in Arizona
- Get a certified marriage certificate. Order more than one — several agencies want to see it and not all return it quickly.
- Submit form SS-5 to Social Security. It is free, and it has to be first.
- Apply at Arizona MVD once the Social Security record has updated.
- Update your passport, then your vehicle title, then your voter registration.
- Tell your bank, your employer, your insurers, your utilities and your subscriptions.
Questions people ask
- What does Arizona accept as proof of a name change after marriage?
- Arizona MVD asks for: An original or certified copy of your marriage license, domestic partnership certificate, divorce decree, adoption decree, court order, or citizenship/naturalization document — certified by the agency that issued it; Identification showing both your new and previous names — MVD’s own words. It is the pair of names that has to be evidenced, so a single card in one name is unlikely to be enough on its own; ask MVD which combination it accepts before you travel.
- Is a marriage license the same as a marriage certificate?
- No. The license is the permission to marry and is issued before the wedding. The certificate is the record of it and is issued afterward. Agencies want the certificate.
- Can I go to Arizona MVD before Social Security?
- Do Social Security first — it’s the record most agencies check against, so getting it done first is what keeps the rest in step. A few states require it outright and say so on their own page.
All Arizona name change requirements · The national guide to changing your name after marriage
Everything above is free. The rest of the list is the work.
You can do all of this yourself with the links on this page — every underlying form is free. What we sell is the evening back: the official forms filled in from your answers, the steps in Arizona in the order that works, and a written letter for every bank, employer and insurer you have to tell.
Two questions about your situation first, because there is one answer that means we can’t help — and we would rather tell you that before you pay than after.
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