STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman ELIANA PINTOR MARIN
District 29 (Essex and Hudson)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblywomen Lampitt, Dunn and Assemblyman Moen
SYNOPSIS
Revises State marriage license application form to permit certain changes in middle name and surname.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning the State marriage license application form and supplementing Title 37 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The Commissioner of Health shall require that the State marriage license application form enable each of the applicants to enter changes in middle name and surname resulting from the marriage. The application form shall include two parallel sections permitting each of the applicants to enter one of the following options as their surname:
(1) the surname of the other spouse;
(2) any former surname of either spouse;
(3) a name combining all or a segment of the premarriage surname or any former surname of each spouse into a single surname;
(4) a combination name separated by a hyphen, provided that each part of such combination surname is the premarriage surname, or any former surname, of each of the spouses; or
(5) the premarriage surname of a spouse as the spouse's middle name, followed by the surname of the other spouse as the new surname.
b. The application form shall include language instructing the applicants that neither party to the marriage is required to change his or her surname, and that applicants who do change their middle name or surname should contact their local Social Security Administration, so that its records and the applicant's Social Security identification card can be updated to reflect the name change.
2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the seventh month next following enactment, except that the Commissioner of Health may take any anticipatory administrative action in advance as shall be necessary for the implementation of this act.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the Commissioner of Health to issue a State marriage license application form that enables each of the applicants to enter changes in middle name and surname resulting from the marriage. The application form shall include two parallel sections permitting each of the applicants to enter one of the following options as their surname:
(1) the surname of the other spouse;
(2) any former surname of either spouse;
(3) a name combining all or a segment of the premarriage surname or any former surname of each spouse into a single surname;
(4) a combination name separated by a hyphen, provided that each part of such combination surname is the premarriage surname, or any former surname, of each of the spouses; or
(5) the premarriage surname of a spouse as the spouse's middle name, followed by the surname of the other spouse as the new surname.
The application form would include language instructing the applicants that neither party to the marriage is required to change his or her surname, and that applicants who do change their middle name or surname should contact their local Social Security Administration, so that its records and the applicant's Social Security identification card can be updated to reflect the name change.
This bill is intended to streamline the process for newly married persons who wish to change either their middle name or surname as a result of their marriage. There is currently no option to do this as part of the marriage certificate application process, leaving the prospective applicant to navigate a difficult process of changing one's names with a local Social Security or Motor Vehicle Commission office, which may or may not be accommodating, or paying to have the names changed in court. It is hoped that by offering this option as part of the marriage certificate application process, other State offices will reciprocate and permit changes of both middle and surname after marriage consistently and without fee or penalty.