After your divorce, you might decide to return to your maiden name. You can do this fairly easily, but there are a few things you might consider before filing a name change request. Florida does require a hearing for a name change after a divorce, but it can be done as part of your divorce to save money.

You may want to keep in mind:

• Your child’s feelings — Divorce can be hard on children, and some are sensitive about one parent’s desire to distance himself or herself from the other parent. Discuss these matters with your child and explain clearly why you want to change your name. A young child might feel rejected if the parent doesn’t want to keep the shared family name.

• Your professional identity — Consider carefully how you are known in your profession. If name recognition is a significant factor in your professional success, you might need to act quickly to change business cards, stamps, letterhead, logo images and professional network listings.

• Your social network identity — Changing your name may involve changing your email address, websites, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social networking accounts. If you have published academic papers, consider editing links that lead back to your website so readers can find you under your new name.

Once you have weighed these considerations and decide to proceed with your legal name change, here are some of the next steps:

• Ask your attorney to file your name change along with your divorce papers, this may save a great deal of time and headache
• Apply for a name change on your driver’s license, passport and any other legal and identity documents
• Call your phone service provider and ask that your new name be added to the directory
• Tell your friends and ask them to use your preferred name

Returning to your maiden name after your divorce does not have to be difficult. A divorce attorney can take care of many of these steps for you. Call the Law Office of Kenneth C. Gallagher at 407-897-1119, or contact us online.