Changing your name after marriage in Georgia
What Georgia 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 Georgia you need a certified marriage certificate, then Social Security, then Georgia Department of Driver Services.
Social Security comes first. Every state checks your new name against its record before issuing a license.
In Georgia, a certified marriage certificate comes from the county that issued your marriage license.
Georgia asks you to update your license within 60 days.
The marriage certificate Georgia 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 Georgia's state vital records service covers birth and death certificates only. Marriage licenses and certified copies are issued by the Probate Court in the county where the license was obtained. | County Probate Court | |
| What a copy costs | Georgia publishes no statewide figure. Each county's Probate Court sets its own. | County Probate Court | |
| What Georgia Department of Driver Services charges | Free One free name or address change per issuance term. A later change costs a full renewal. | Georgia Department of Driver Services |
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 Georgia, a certified marriage certificate comes from the county that issued your marriage license — County Probate Court.
- Georgia publishes no statewide figure. Each county's Probate Court sets its own.
- Georgia's state vital records service covers birth and death certificates only. Marriage licenses and certified copies are issued by the Probate Court in the county where the license was obtained.
- 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: County Probate Court · checked
The sequence in Georgia
- 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 Georgia Department of Driver Services 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 Georgia accept as proof of a name change after marriage?
- Georgia Department of Driver Services asks for: A certified court order, marriage certificate, or divorce decree showing the name change.
- 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 Georgia Department of Driver Services 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 Georgia 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 Georgia in the order that works, and a written letter for every bank, employer and insurer you have to tell.
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