If I am getting married and my fiance and I would like to create a hybrid last name for usboth to legally take, how do we do this?

Women can change their names after marriage more easily with the marriage certificate if the name is merely hyphenated.  However, if the name is a new name completely, both of you will need to petition the district court where you live for a name change.  It’s a fairly simple process of filing a petition requesting that your name be changed to the new hybrid name.   After filing the petition, you’ll need to get a setting with the court and present some basic testimony on why you are seeking the name change.  This is not usually a long drawn out hearing, but rather it’s a discussion between you and the court explaining the basis of your request for a name change.  Judges will usually question you about fraud situations (i.e. you’re not seeking a name change to avoid a creditor or prosecution of a criminal act).  You’ll need to get your criminal history run through DPS so that you can demonstrate to the court that you are not trying to avoid prosecution for any criminal charges. (You can get info on how to do this at the same office where you get your DL renewed)  If the Court grants your request, then he will sign your order.  Most courts require you to bring your own order.  Make sure that the spelling of the new name is correct.  You don’t want to be stuck with the wrong last name.  Once you have the order, you can take the order to any government agencies and they will issue new ID’s with the new name.  You can do the process on your own and be out roughly $300 for court costs.  However, you may want to at least pay an attorney a small fee to look over your paperwork to may sure your original petition and final order are worded properly to avoid issues later on.