Family · Name Change

Adult Legal Name Change: Steps, Fee & Publication by State

How to legally change your name as an adult in each state: whether you must publish notice in a newspaper, the approximate court filing fee, whether a background check is required, and the basic steps. Each cited to the statute or the court.

6 of 50 states published. 2 verified against the official statute; the rest drafted from corroborating sources, since much of this process is set by local courts.The filing fee is set by your county court, so every figure here is an approximate range. Confirm the exact amount with your local clerk.

Read this first: publish or get a background check

The adult name-change process is a court petition, and its two headline facts are whether you must publish a newspaper notice and what the court fee is. California, Pennsylvania, and Illinois require publication. Texas and Florida do not, but instead require a fingerprint background check. New York usually requires neither anymore, after a December 2021 change removed publication for most adults.

Every state shares the same floor: an adult resident, a lawful reason, and no changing your name to dodge creditors or a criminal record. And every fee here is an approximate range, because the petition is filed in a local court that sets its own fee, so publication, fingerprinting, record-search, and certified-copy costs are all separate add-ons. Every figure links to the statute or court, and pages still pending verification say so.

Pick your state

Whether publication is required, the approximate filing fee, and the statute on each card.

What these pages are, and what they aren't

Each state page is a reference for the adult name-change steps, publication rule, and approximate cost. They are deliberately not advice for your case: fees, publication, and background-check rules are set locally and change, so each page links to the statute or court self-help and says to verify with your clerk. This is legal information, not legal advice.