Changing your name after marriage in Minnesota
What Minnesota 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 Minnesota you need a certified marriage certificate, then Social Security, then Minnesota Driver and Vehicle Services.
Social Security comes first. Every state checks your new name against its record before issuing a license.
In Minnesota, a certified marriage certificate comes from either the state vital records office or the county that issued your marriage license.
The marriage certificate Minnesota 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 | either the state vital records office or the county that issued your marriage license A Minnesota marriage certificate can come from the county that issued the license, or from the state Office of Vital Records for marriages since 1958. | Minnesota Department of Health Office of Vital Records, or the county where the license was issued | |
| What a copy costs | We confirmed $9.00 per certified certificate at one county office. We could not read the state office's own published figure, so we have not printed it as a statewide fee. | Minnesota Department of Health Office of Vital Records, or the county where the license was issued | |
| What Minnesota Driver and Vehicle Services charges | Minnesota publishes no name-change figure. It is not the $26 duplicate — the duplicate page routes name changes away and requires a new photograph — so budget the card fee for your license class. | Minnesota Driver and Vehicle 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 Minnesota, a certified marriage certificate comes from either the state vital records office or the county that issued your marriage license — Minnesota Department of Health Office of Vital Records, or the county where the license was issued.
- We confirmed $9.00 per certified certificate at one county office. We could not read the state office's own published figure, so we have not printed it as a statewide fee.
- A Minnesota marriage certificate can come from the county that issued the license, or from the state Office of Vital Records for marriages since 1958.
- 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: Minnesota Department of Health Office of Vital Records, or the county where the license was issued · checked
The sequence in Minnesota
- 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 Minnesota Driver and Vehicle 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 Minnesota accept as proof of a name change after marriage?
- Minnesota Driver and Vehicle Services asks for: Your current driver’s license or ID card; A certified marriage certificate (or a marriage license carrying a certified recorded marriage date), a certified divorce decree that specifies the name change, or a certified court order that specifies it.
- 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 Minnesota Driver and Vehicle 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 Minnesota 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 Minnesota 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.
One payment. No subscription.