Montana Name Change Forms: Every Form and Where to File It

A name change in Montana runs through federal forms and Montana agencies at the same time. Here is the whole set, and where each one actually comes from.

• Certified marriage certificate or divorce decree. Not a form you fill in, but the document everything else depends on. Order certified copies from the Clerk of District Court in the Montana county where the marriage license was filed (the state DPHHS Office of Vital Records holds only an index and does not issue certified copies itself). Get two or three, since several agencies each want to see one.
• Form SS-5 (Social Security card). One national form, identical in every state, and always free. Download it straight from the SSA (PDF), or see it filled out field by field.
• Your Montana Motor Vehicle Division (MVD), a division of the Montana Department of Justice license application. This is the Montana-specific piece. The agency supplies the form, and most locations hand it to you at the counter or post it on their site rather than publishing a standalone name-change form. Start from the official Montana Motor Vehicle Division (MVD), a division of the Montana Department of Justice page.
• A passport form, if you hold a passport: DS-5504 (free, passport under a year old), DS-82 (renew by mail), or DS-11 (in person). Which one is yours is a short test: compare all three.
• Voter registration update. Free, and often handled for you at the Montana Motor Vehicle Division (MVD), a division of the Montana Department of Justice. Details on the Montana voter registration page.

Watch for sites charging a fee to "provide" the SS-5 or the passport forms. Every one of them is a free download from the government, linked above.

Filling in the form is half of it. Montana also wants supporting documents at the counter:

• Certified copy of marriage certificate (issued by county Clerk of District Court)
• Current Montana driver license or state ID
• Proof that name was already updated with Social Security Administration (MVD verifies electronically; must wait 24-48 hours after SSA update)
• Payment for the $16.12 MVD fee
• If also upgrading to REAL ID: proof of SSN and two documents proving Montana residency

REAL ID note: A name change itself does not require full REAL ID document re-verification, but if upgrading to a REAL ID-compliant card at the same visit, MVD requires proof of identity, SSN, and two proofs of Montana residency in addition to the certified marriage certificate.

Good to know for Montana: Marriage/divorce certificates in Montana are issued only by the county Clerk of District Court where the license was filed, not by the state. If the county is unknown, the state Vital Records office offers an index search ($10, covers up to 5 years) to help locate it; VitalChek and VitalRecordsOnline are the only approved third-party ordering vendors.

Many Montana Motor Vehicle Division (MVD), a division of the Montana Department of Justice locations let you skip the line by booking ahead: book a Montana appointment.

Two of these go in the mail, and they do not go to the same place.

Form SS-5. Montana is one of the states where the SSA supports a fully online marriage name change, so you may not need to mail anything at all. Start at my Social Security. If you would rather use paper, take or mail the SS-5 to a local office: find your nearest one.

Passport forms. This is where Montana matters, because routine DS-82 service is split by state. Montana is routed to the Pennsylvania processing center.

DS-82, routine service from Montana
National Passport Processing Center
PO Box 90155
Philadelphia, PA 19190-0155

Routine service (no fee)
National Passport Processing Center
Post Office Box 90107
Philadelphia, PA 19190-0107

Expedited service uses different addresses again and costs extra, and the instructions ask you to write "Expedite" on the outside of the envelope. Use a trackable mailing service: that envelope holds your passport and your certified certificate.

• Certified marriage certificate (3 copies): $30–$90
• Social Security card (Form SS-5): Free
• Driver's license update (Montana Motor Vehicle Division (MVD), a division of the Montana Department of Justice): $16.12
• Passport (only if you update it): Free–$165
• Voter registration: Free

Most people spend roughly $46–$271 in Montana: on the low end if you skip the passport, on the high end with a full passport renewal and extra certificate copies.

The forms themselves cost nothing. What you pay for is certified copies, the Montana Motor Vehicle Division (MVD), a division of the Montana Department of Justice fee, and a passport renewal if you need one. Passport pricing changes independently of anything Montana does, so check the current State Department fee schedule on the day you file.