If you get married, or divorced, or change your legal name for some other reason, you will need to update the name on your Florida Real Estate license.

The first thing you need to do is update your name with the DBPR.  The name of the form is RE10.  As of this writing, the form must be mailed in.  It cannot be completed online.  Along with the form, you need to include supporting documentation.  Common supporting documentation would include a marriage license, a divorce decree, or a court order that changes your name.

Simply fill out the form and mail it in.  Check back on the DBPR website in a few weeks to be sure that it was updated.  If it wasn’t, call them at 407-481-5662.

Once this is finished, you need to update your name with the local Realtor association if you are a member.  There is not a formal process that I am aware of.  Just contact them and tell them that your license name has been updated, so you would like it updated in their records.  Similarly, be sure to change your name on all of your advertising, and be sure that your broker updates your name on their website, if it is there.

This last step is important because the last name that you use in advertising must be the same last name that is registered with the DBPR.  The first name is not legislated.  For example, if your name is Jacob Lee Smith, but you go by Jake Smith or even Lee Smith, that is fine.  But if your last name with the DBPR is Smith-Brown, you must advertise as Smith-Brown, not Smith or Brown.

If in the course of the marriage, divorce, or whatever event precipitated the name change, you also changed your address.  Don’t forget to also change your address with the DBPR.

Please note that Karen Climer has no affiliation with Climer School of Real Estate.  Her father, Ron Climer, sold Climer School of Real Estate in 2014.  It has since been involved in several mergers and acquisitions and is owned by a large investment company.  Karen owns Demetree School of Real Estate in Orlando, Florida.