Change legal name on Medicare record 011-44110010

Services Australia plays a critical role in providing support to people with family and domestic violence concerns. The agency gives access to the services and support they may need. Family and domestic violence can pose a serious risk to the safety and wellbeing of our customers. It is important to discuss all options with the customer.

When a customer requests to change their name, discuss the reason for their request. This can indicate other changes in the customer's circumstances (for example, a new partner or recently separated). If the reason is a separation, see Family and domestic violence and follow the Family and Domestic Violence Support Model process.

Service Officers must:

• check to ensure records are updated correctly especially when there is an indication of a change of circumstances
• if the customer also requests to move to another card, action this before actioning the change of name (or change of address). See Copy or transfer a person or child to another Medicare card for the copy/transfer process
• discuss with the customer if updates are required to the family Medicare Safety Nets registration
• ensure address, bank, and contact details are up to date

Note: Service Officers cannot action copy/transfers over the phone. Before actioning the copy/transfer request, the customer will need to:

• complete the Application to copy or transfer from one Medicare card to another form (MS011), and
• supply supporting documentation

Customers can change their legal name:

• by calling Services Australia
• emailing or mailing the request and supporting documents, or
• in a service centre

To comply with the National Identity Proofing Guidelines and aligning Services Australia's programs, if a customer has changed their legal name, they must provide one original and unaltered supporting document. See Table 1 on the Process page for details on:

• acceptable documents
• change of name overseas for Australian visa holders who do not have Australian citizenship, who return to Australia and ask to change their legal name
• how to process a change of legal name

A change of name might accompany a change of gender. See Change of sex or gender for Medicare enrolments for more details. Service Officers must manage these enquiries with sensitivity.

At Group, the name recorded can be the:

• person's legal name, or
• preferred name

To record a preferred name at Group, Services Australia requires evidence that the person is known by that name. See the Process page for more details.

At Personal the legal name must be recorded. To change a person's legal name, supporting documents must be provided.

When a name change at Personal occurs, the name must also be changed at Group and a new Medicare card issued.

A customer does not need:

• to re-supply documentation if their name was previously changed at Personal and not at Group. This is enough to allow a name to be amended at Group
• supporting evidence if they request to change their married legal name back to their birth or maiden, and this name was recorded as a previous name in CDMS

Note: where a person has more than one recorded name, for example, a previous name, an arrow will show before the family name in CDMS.

Child under 15 years of age

A child under 15 years of age must be known by their legal name at Group and Personal. If a newborn has a long name, shortening of the name can occur to enable enrolment on the family Medicare card. This must only be made at Group; the legal name of the child is still recorded at Personal. See Table 5 on the Process page.

Note: the exception is where a child is under 15 years of age and is undergoing a change of gender. The child's name can be updated in Group. Documentary evidence that the person is known by that name is required. See Table 1, Step 5 on the Process page.

Adopted child

If eligible for Medicare and pre-adoption, the child may be:

• Enrolled on their own Medicare card under their legal or given name. This name is provided by the Australian Government agency:
• By Court Order, or
• In writing on the agency's letterhead

Note: this name is held at personal in CDMS

• Known by the name of the adoptive parents at Group. The Australian Government agency or accredited non-government organisation is the group contact

See Adopted child enrolments in Medicare.

Where a person has a long legal name, they would usually be on their own Medicare card. Medicare does allow shortening of names. This ensures all family members are on the same card.

A name is considered long when any of the following applies:

• the last name has more than 18 characters
• the first given name has more than 12 characters, or
• the first name, initial and family are more than 25 characters in total (includes spaces)

For a long name enrolment record, it is not possible to:

• add another person
• transfer or copy another person
• transfer or copy to another enrolment

There are 2 options for long names:

• enrol them on a Medicare card of their own, or
• shorten their name so they can be added to the family Medicare card

Service Officers must discuss the options with the applicant and ask what they would prefer.

Note: if the applicant has a hyphenated name and wants to remove one of the names, this is considered a name change. For this change, they must provide supporting documents. See Acceptable documents to change a legal name.

If the applicant wants to shorten their name, it must only be done at Group. The legal name is still recorded at Personal. The Process page contains details on processing short and long names.

Updating a long name enrolment

A long name enrolment must be updated when:

• created incorrectly, or
• the group contact has had a name change and the long name record is no longer needed

After updating a long name record, and it is no longer considered a long name, it is then possible to:

• add another person
• transfer or copy another person
• transfer or copy the person to another enrolment

An 'only name' enrolment is where the applicant has one name only. There is no last name and first name. The Process page has more details.

Where a person marries, they can choose to:

• take on their spouse’s family name, or
• both partners can hyphenate their family names

To change a legal name, each partner must make their own application, and provide supporting documents. See Acceptable documents to change a legal name.

Minor name variations

A minor variation does not change the basis of a person's details. It corrects minor spelling errors that may occur in the normal course of a Service Officer's duties. It is acceptable to update a minor variation of a name without documentation, particularly as Services Australia has an obligation to ensure the personal information it holds about customers is up-to-date and accurate.

Examples:

• Marie should be Maree
• Brown should be Browne
• Cook should be Cooke
• Ashlee should be Ashlie

Major name variations

Where the change is a major variation to their recorded legal name, customers must provide supporting documentation to verify the required changes. (These documents do not include situations where a customer is changing their legal name).

Examples:

• change the spelling of a name
• change hyphenated names to non-hyphenated and vice versa
• moving a name from first name field to middle name field
• customers first name entered in the Surname field, and surname entered in the First Name field
• removing or adding a middle initial or middle name

Customers can do a major variation to recorded legal name:

• by calling the agency
• by emailing or mailing the request and supporting documents, or
• in a service centre

See Table 2 on the Process page, and Escalation process for Medicare Eligibility for help.

See Indigenous enrolments in Medicare.

When a customer requests a copy/transfer and a change of name, to ensure the customer's privacy, Service Officers must action the request in the following order:

• copy/transfer
• update the customers change of name (customers must provide documentation to change their name)
• order a new Medicare card

Note: Service Officers cannot action copy/transfers over the phone. Before actioning the copy/transfer request, the customer will need to:

• complete the Application to copy or transfer from one Medicare card to another form (MS011), and
• supply supporting documentation

Service Officers must verify identification documents in the Medicare Document Verification Service (DVS) Portal.

See Identity verification for Medicare enrolments and re-enrolments in the Document Verification Service (DVS) for more details.