The wedding is over, but the paperwork is not: a new legal name means visits to a chain of agencies, from Social Security and the State Department down to the state DMV, banks, and employers. Each has its own forms, evidence rules, and queue. The federal government estimates the DIY route takes most people well over ten hours of research and filing, and one wrong form at the DMV sends them home without a new license.
That gap is what name change services sell. For $35 to $130, a website generates the correct forms for a person’s state and situation, pre-fills them, and spells out the filing order. Some throw in prepaid envelopes, concierge support, even passport photos. Whether any of it is worth the money depends on how much a new spouse values an afternoon, and on how much they trust a private company with their personal data.
Here are nine sites that handle the job, three of them free.
The 9 Sites at a Glance
| Site | Type | Cost | Standout |
|---|---|---|---|
| HitchSwitch | Paid kit | $39.99–$129.99 | 4 tiers, concierge on top plans |
| MissNowMrs | Paid service + app | From $39.95 | Oldest service, 500k+ served |
| NewlyNamed | Paid kit / box | $49 / $99 | Covers 4,000+ private accounts |
| Easy Name Change | Paid kit | $39 / $79 | Founded by a bride who lived the problem |
| NÉE | Paid kit | ~$35+ | Design-forward boutique option |
| Courtly | Paid kit / box | $35 / $85 | Cheap entry point |
| UpdateMyName.com | Paid kit | $39–$99 | All-50-state form compliance |
| SSA.gov | Free — government | $0 | The required first stop anyway |
| Travel.state.gov | Free — government | $0 | Passport update, often with no fee |
1. HitchSwitch
HitchSwitch started in 2013, founded by Jake Wolff while he was a student at Fordham Law School after his wife’s paperwork struggle exposed the gap in the market. It remains one of the most recognized names in the category. The site offers four tiers: Print at Home at $39.99, Full Service at $69.99 (mailed hard copies plus prepaid envelopes), Platinum at $99.99 (adds concierge support and a government-compliant passport photo), and Platinum Plus at $129.99 (a Shutterfly photo album joins the pile).
The workflow is the standard one: answer a short questionnaire, get auto-filled forms for Social Security, the passport office, DMV, IRS, and hundreds of private organizations, then file in the prescribed order. Recent versions add an AI chatbot and a database covering more than 10,000 organizations.
Here is the flaw worth knowing about. The Better Business Bureau rates HitchSwitch “A-” and accredited, yet TopConsumerReviews downgraded the service after users reported being told to mail forms to offices that require in-person filing. Some of that Social Security paperwork bounced back weeks later. Support was slow to respond, too. The broader lesson: whatever kit a couple buys, a two-minute check of SSA.gov before filing anything by mail costs nothing and prevents a bounced application.
2. MissNowMrs
MissNowMrs predates the smartphone era. It has operated since 2007 and claims more than 500,000 customers. Its model splits in two: an online service where a questionnaire generates a customized kit, and a mobile app that compresses the same process into a few taps using photos of both spouses’ driver’s licenses. Pricing runs from about $39.95 for print-at-home to $69.95 for the “We Print It” tier with pre-addressed, pre-stamped envelopes mailed out.
The company advertises an average saving of 13 hours against solo paperwork. Customers get six months of account access, which matters because name changes stretch over weeks in real life.
Worth being clear about what the money buys, because MissNowMrs states plainly that it cannot file anything for you. Every step needs a wet signature and original documents. That means the service prepares paperwork rather than filing it, which couples expecting a done-for-you process should know before paying.
3. NewlyNamed
NewlyNamed is the youngest of the established players, founded in 2019 by husband-and-wife Colie and Andy Christensen after Colie’s own chaotic post-wedding name change. Two packages: a $49 Print at Home kit and a $99 NewlyNamed Box, a physical kit with printed forms, a personalized checklist, and prepaid envelopes.
Its differentiator is breadth. The kit covers federal and state forms plus more than 4,000 private accounts, from banks and airlines to TSA PreCheck/Global Entry, hotel loyalty programs, and professional licenses. The company claims 500,000+ customers and a “100% form acceptance” guarantee backed by human support.
Two things to weigh first. The Box is the priciest physical kit in this roundup. And the “no sensitive data needed” promise applies only to the initial form; certified documents still go to government offices the old way, same as every service here.
4. Easy Name Change
Genevieve Dennis founded the site in 2008 after her own post-wedding paperwork marathon. Easy Name Change offers a $39 Print at Home kit (digital forms, ready-to-send letters and emails, personalized checklist) and a $79 Printed and Posted kit (everything printed, mailed, with a folder and stamped envelopes included).
The ready-made notification letters for banks, utilities, and insurers are the practical hook: most services focus on government forms, but the long tail of a name change lives in the private sector, and templated letters remove that chore.
Where it falls short of NewlyNamed: less depth on niche accounts, and no concierge tier at any price.
5. NÉE
NÉE sits at the boutique end of the market. It presents itself as a wedding-registry-adjacent brand first and a paperwork processor second, and the shopping experience reflects that. The kit carries personalized instructions and applications with a checklist, step-by-step guidance, and a satisfaction guarantee.
A wrinkle worth knowing: public information on pricing and coverage is thinner than for its rivals, and its profile on major review platforms is smaller. Couples considering it should verify current package contents directly before buying. The details matter more than the aesthetics once a form bounces.
6. Courtly
Courtly is the budget entry, with a $35 Print-at-Home kit and an $85 Courtly Box that ships printed checklists, applications, and prepaid envelopes anywhere in the US. The tier structure mirrors the bigger names: digital download first, physical kit above it, concierge support included in both.
Courtly does cost $5 to $15 less than comparable tiers elsewhere. That saving is thin protection when third-party review coverage is this sparse, though. Read the guarantee’s fine print before counting on it.
7. UpdateMyName.com
UpdateMyName has operated since 2016 and sells three tiers: $39 Print at Home, $69 Full Service (printed forms, postage-paid envelopes, a printed passport photo), and $99 Platinum with VIP concierge service. The company emphasizes documents compliant across all 50 states and a 100% satisfaction guarantee.
Unlike the bigger names above, UpdateMyName rarely appears on major editorial roundups, so there are fewer independent reviews to check its claims against. Full Service throws in a printed passport photo, a small convenience worth noting.
8. SSA.gov — The Government’s Own Door
The paid services above all start in the same place: the Social Security Administration, which every other agency checks against. Updating a name with SSA is free: Form SS-5, submitted with a certified marriage certificate and proof of identity. Replacement cards for legal name changes do not count against the three-per-year card limit. In a growing number of states, the request can be made entirely online through a my Social Security account; elsewhere it takes an office appointment, and the card arrives by mail in roughly five to ten business days after processing.
The IRS additionally warns that a tax return filed under a name that does not match SSA records can delay a refund, which is why SSA comes first in every order of operations.
The only cost is time: locating documents, waiting for appointments. That time is precisely what the paid services monetize.
9. Travel.state.gov — Passport, Often Free
The State Department’s passport name-change path is more forgiving than most people expect. If the passport and the name change both occurred within the past year, Form DS-5504 submitted by mail with the current passport, a certified marriage certificate, and one photo carries no fee at all, while expedited processing adds $60. Outside that window, standard renewal rules apply, by mail or in person.
That one-year window decides everything. Let the anniversary pass without updating the passport, and the free upgrade is gone; full renewal fees take its place.
What the Math Says
Run the math, and it comes out unglamorous. A paid kit costs $35 to $130 and saves a claimed 13 to 15 hours of form-hunting; the DIY route costs nothing but an afternoon plus stamp money, since both critical federal updates (the SS-5 and a DS-5504 inside the one-year window) are free. Whatever a couple chooses, the sequence stays fixed: Social Security first, then the DMV, which verifies SSA records electronically and will turn away early birds. Passport comes next, then banks and everything else.
For newlyweds drowning in post-wedding logistics, HitchSwitch or MissNowMrs remain the established defaults. NewlyNamed is the strongest for sweeping private accounts. Courtly is the price floor. For couples with a free evening and a printer, the government’s own websites (SSA.gov and Travel.state.gov) handle the same legal job for zero dollars.
