Just Married fact sheet: changing your name

Firstly, a couple of myths to be aware of:

• There is no automatic name change in Australia, and
• There is no central point on contact to change your name.

If you want to change your surname to your partner’s surname you will need to  take your official marriage certificate (the one that Births Deaths and Marriages posts to you after we register you marriage and apply for the certificate on your behalf) to all the places you wish to change your name.

This means you have to change your name at each Government Agency and Private Institution you wish to change your name at.

You will then need to visit the offices of all the organizations where you want to change your name (unfortunately none of it happens automatically). The main ones to start with are:

• Your bank(s)
• RTA / Main Roads / Vic Roads etc
• Medicare
• Electoral Roll

You should note that this only works if you want to simply swap your surname for your partner’s surname. If you wish to hyphen or merge your surnames, or do anything else creative, you will need to  go through the change of name process in your state. This is the same process as you would use if, for example, you decided to change your first name or wanted to change your name for a reason other than marriage.

Hope this helps.