How we keep your guidance current
For government steps, we work from official agency sources and show when we last checked them.
If a state hasn’t passed that review, we don’t sell a plan for it.
Where the guidance comes from
For state and federal steps, we use information published by the agency responsible for that record.
That includes sources for things like driver’s licenses and IDs, vehicle records, voter registration, Social Security, and passports.
Banks, employers, insurers, licensing organizations, and other private institutions can set their own requirements. We distinguish those from government procedure.
20 states are currently covered.
Most recent verification: .
Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington
See currently covered statesHow we decide what to publish
We use official sources
Government requirements are tied to information published by the responsible agency, not to aggregator sites or secondary summaries.
We show when we checked
State guidance carries review dates so you can see how recently the source was verified.
We don’t invent missing details
We publish a fee, processing time, or form number only when the responsible agency publishes it. If the official source doesn’t say, we don’t guess.
We separate government rules from practical reminders
Some steps in your plan are organizational reminders or depend on a private institution. We don’t present those as government requirements.
We correct things against the source
If someone reports something that looks wrong, we check the official source before changing the guidance.
What we cover today
My New Surname currently supports people who:
- live in a covered state
- have a marriage recorded in the United States
- are U.S. citizens
- are taking their spouse’s current surname
- are changing their own adult name
- have, or expect to receive, a certified marriage certificate
What we don’t cover yet
We do not currently build plans for:
- custom court-ordered name changes
- divorce or name reversion
- adoption-related name changes
- children’s name changes
- immigration-related name-change routes
- hyphenated, blended, or newly created surnames
- states whose guidance has not passed our review
My New Surname also does not provide legal advice or file government paperwork.
What we don’t promise
Official requirements can change, sometimes without notice.
We cannot promise how an agency or institution will decide a particular request. Their current instructions always control.
What we can promise is that we won’t fill gaps with invented certainty.
Found something that doesn’t look right?
Tell us the state and the step.
We’ll check it against the official source and correct it if needed.
Report a correction