I live in Australia, so YMMV, but for me, the things I needed to update were:
- Government/their services and programs, local and federal
- Medical things (insurance,, doctors, etc)
- Banks/Financial Institutions (I don't know how a 401k works, but that probably is included)
- Insurance
- Car registration
- Identity documents
- Wills, if you have one
- Company registrations, if you have one
Beyond that legal obligation, there is no one you have to tell if you don't feel comfortable. I took the opportunity of legally changing my name to finally come out in the rest of my life (work and uni), but you don't have to.
Also fun fact I can tell that Medicare (Australias one) definitely doesn't distinguish between trans and cis women because the week after I changed my name/gender I received a letter telling my I was due to get my cervix checked lol
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Everyone you want to
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If there's a legal obligation to inform someone where you are, everyone like that.
End of list.
Short list, perfect!
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Your local Linux enthusiasts
Assuming US. Government wise, Get your name and sex on your passport and Social security card updated before Jan 20th. Get both passport book and card when you apply. Updating Social security should also update IRS. Pay for expedited processing, This Must be Done Now!
Offhand I believe you have 90 days to update your drivers license.
Get your birth certificate updated if the state you were born in lets you. Even if it doesn’t, make sure that you have multiple physical copies of it and your social security certificate. Do not keep them all in the same place. Safe Deposit Boxes tend to only cost a few dozen dollars a year, if you cannot afford that mutually exchange your extra copy with your closest trusted friend’s copy.
Bank is also a big one and should match Social security, probably also want to update any credit cards.
Insurance, Health, Auto, Home, etc… Don’t give them a reason to give you the run around.
Work, or at least HR, should also be informed so that they are sending pay to right name and taxes all work out.
Post office may also need to be informed, though I believe offhand they will generally accept passport or drivers licenses as proof of identity.
If you have the misfortune of being in their system, make sure that the Department of Justice has you updated. This should have already come up for the legal name change but state and federal don’t always do a good job communicating and it is your problem when they fuck it up.
So offhand,
Passport
Social security
Drivers license
Birth certificate (if possible)
Bank/credit cards
Insurance
Whoever pays you at work
post office(maybe)
DoJ(if applicable)
As a rule, if it’s important, expensive, or looks official, it should match.
The more things match your real name (congratulations) and not your dead name, the safer you are and the easier your life will be.
For changing your sex, I would think you'd need to update your ID and notify your doctor. Driver's license, identification and passport are all things that you might run into issues if they're out of order.
The name change probably requires more action. All of the above plus I'd imagine you might come into issues with banking or billing. If you're a homeowner you might need to update your title, but I'd check with a lawyer
You go, dude!
