e-StampNotary
First, the thing nobody says at the counter
You are not obliged to change anything. No Indian law requires a woman to take her husband's surname on marriage, and records kept in the maiden name stay perfectly valid for life. Many women change nothing except the bank nomination and are never troubled again. Others change everything and spend six months doing it. Both are lawful choices, and the choice is yours, not the office clerk's.
If you do decide to change, the sequence matters, because the change has to propagate through a long list of records and every one of them wants evidence.
What the affidavit says
That you were known by your maiden name, as it appears on your identity documents; that you married on a stated date at a stated place; that consequent on the marriage you have adopted the new name; and that both names refer to one and the same person. The marriage certificate is referred to by its number and date, and the identity documents in the maiden name are listed. The oath is administered under section 8(1)(e) of the Notaries Act, 1952, and the document is valid as a notarial act only under the Notary's signature and official seal — section 8(2).
As always: notarisation certifies that you swore the contents. It does not certify that they are true, and it does not by itself alter any register.
Several institutions will change a surname on production of the marriage certificate and your existing identity proof, with no affidavit at all. Banks vary; some have their own printed request form. Ask the branch or the office first. If their own form does the job, we will tell you so and you can keep your money.
Marriage registration is a separate thing
Under the Gujarat Registration of Marriages Act, 2006, every marriage contracted in the State is to be registered, and a memorandum in duplicate goes to the Registrar of Marriages for the area where the marriage was contracted, within thirty days. That is a Registrar's function. A Notary has no role in registering a marriage. There is no such thing as a "notarised marriage", whatever a website may have told you. What we can do is draft and take the joint affidavit of husband and wife that the Registrar's office commonly asks to see alongside the memorandum.
Note also that non-registration does not invalidate a marriage. Section 8(5) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 says the validity of a marriage is not affected by the omission to make the entry; the marriage itself is solemnised by ceremony under section 7.
The order to do it in
- Marriage certificate first. Almost everything downstream refers to it.
- Affidavit next, if the institutions you deal with want one.
- Newspaper notices and the Gazette where the change must survive later verification — Government service records in particular. See the Gazette affidavit page.
- Then the records, one at a time. Aadhaar, PAN, bank accounts and nominations, the provident fund, insurance policies, share folios, the RTO, professional registrations, property papers.
Passport documentation has been simplified considerably, and most annexures are now plain-paper self-declarations needing neither stamp paper nor a notary. Annexure F, for a lost or damaged passport, is the main one that still normally needs a sworn affidavit. Before paying anyone for a notarised passport affidavit, look at what the passport office is asking for today. We would rather lose the work than take money for a document you do not need.
What gets these rejected
- The maiden name written differently from the identity document — an initial expanded, a middle name dropped.
- The marriage certificate referred to but not produced, or a date of marriage in the affidavit that differs from the certificate.
- The father's name field replaced with the husband's name in a form that asks specifically for the father's name. Offices read those fields exactly.
- A name changed in the affidavit but the bank's own KYC form filled in the old name.
- Newspaper notices published in a spelling that differs from the affidavit by a single letter.
Stamp duty and fee
Stamp duty on the affidavit is payable as currently prescribed under the Gujarat Stamp Act, 1958; the Act was amended in 2025 and we confirm the current figure at the counter, issuing the e-stamp here as a Government authorised centre. The notarial fee for administering the oath is capped at ₹35 under Rule 10(1) of the Notaries Rules, 1956.
What to bring
- Marriage certificate — original and a copy
- Aadhaar and PAN card in the maiden name
- Husband's Aadhaar or PAN, where the affidavit or the bank form refers to him
- Proof of current residential address
- The new name written in block letters exactly as you want it to appear
- Any form the bank, employer or office has already given you