S795

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 the applicant’s 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 one or both spouses 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 one or both of the spouses; or

(5) the premarriage surname of a spouse as that 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 an applicant who changes the applicant’s middle name or surname should contact the applicant’s local Social Security Administration Office, so that its records and the applicant’s Social Security identification card can be updated to reflect the name change. The application form shall advise the applicant as to what additional steps may be needed on the part of the applicant to effectuate a name change with State or local departments, divisions, offices, and agencies.

c. The commissioner shall coordinate with other State departments, divisions, offices, and agencies as shall be necessary to establish processes under which an application completed pursuant to this section may be used to effectuate a name change as expeditiously as possible without the need for further action on the part of the applicant, including, but not limited to, updating records maintained by those departments, divisions, offices, and agencies, and issuing to the applicant a new State driver’s license, non-driver identification card, or other government-issued identification card that reflects 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 is to include two parallel sections permitting each of the applicants to enter one of the following options as the applicant’s 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 one or both of the spouses 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 one or both of the spouses; or

(5) the premarriage surname of a spouse as that spouse’s middle name, followed by the surname of the other spouse as the new surname.

The application form is to include language instructing the applicants that neither party to the marriage is required to change his or her surname, and that an applicant who changes the applicant’s middle name or surname should contact the applicant’s local Social Security Administration Office, so that its records and the applicant’s Social Security identification card can be updated to reflect the name change. The application form will also be required to advise applicants as to what additional steps may be needed on the part of the applicant to effectuate a name change with State or local departments, divisions, offices, and agencies.

The bill requires the Commissioner of Health to coordinate with other State departments, divisions, offices, and agencies as necessary to establish processes under which a marriage license application that includes a name change may be used to effectuate the name change as expeditiously as possible without the need for further action on the part of the applicant, including, but not limited to, updating records maintained by those departments, divisions, offices, and agencies, and issuing to the applicant a new State driver’s license, non-driver identification card, or other government-issued identification card that reflects the name change.