The cost to legally change your name in the United States usually falls between $150 and $800, with the court filing fee driving most of the variation. That fee alone runs anywhere from about $50 to $500 depending on your state and county. On top of it, you may owe for a newspaper notice, certified copies of the court order, and replacements for your driver’s license, passport, and other records. If you’re changing your name through marriage, you can skip the court entirely and spend a fraction of that.
The Court Filing Fee
The filing fee is the price of admission for a court-ordered name change, and it varies wildly by jurisdiction. Some states keep it under $100. Others charge more than $400 just to file the petition. A few examples from publicly available fee schedules: Hawaii charges $56, Colorado charges $88, California runs $435 to $450, Florida charges $401, and Louisiana can exceed $500. Your county may pile its own surcharges on top of the state base, so the only reliable number is the one the clerk’s office in your filing county gives you.
If you file electronically, expect a small e-filing surcharge as well. Many courts that accept online filings add a technology or convenience fee, and paying by credit card triggers a processor fee too. These extras are easy to miss when budgeting and can add $5 to $25.
Fee Waivers if Money Is Tight
If the filing fee would be a genuine hardship, you can ask the court to waive it. Courts across the country allow this through a fee waiver application, sometimes called a petition to proceed “in forma pauperis.” You document your income, assets, and expenses. Eligibility standards vary, but a common benchmark is household income at or below 125 percent of the federal poverty guidelines, or current enrollment in a public assistance program like Medicaid, SNAP, or SSI. The judge reviews your application and can waive all or part of the court’s charges.
One limit worth knowing: a fee waiver covers the court’s own costs. It usually will not cover outside expenses like newspaper publication.
The Cheaper Path Through Marriage or Divorce
Not every name change needs a court petition. If you’re getting married and want to take your spouse’s last name or hyphenate, you pick the new name on the marriage license application. Once you’re married, the marriage certificate itself is the legal document you use to update your ID. No separate court filing, no publication, no judge. Your only costs are the marriage license (which you’re paying anyway) and the document update fees below.
That shortcut has a boundary. It works for taking a spouse’s name or a hyphenated combination. If you want a completely new surname that isn’t your spouse’s, you’re back to the full court petition like anyone else.
Divorce works similarly in many jurisdictions. If you want to restore a former name, you can request it as part of the divorce, and the judge writes it into the decree at no extra charge beyond your divorce filing costs. Forget to ask during the divorce, and you may need a separate petition later, which means paying the full filing fee.
Newspaper Publication
A significant number of states require you to publish notice of your intended name change in a local newspaper before the court will approve it. The notice typically runs once a week for several consecutive weeks. The idea is fraud prevention: anyone with an objection gets a chance to raise it.
Costs depend on the paper’s rates, the length of the notice, and your local market. Expect $50 to $200 in most areas. Major metropolitan papers can run higher. A court fee waiver usually won’t touch this expense, so budget for it separately. Not every state requires publication, and some have been moving away from it in recent years, particularly for people with safety concerns like domestic violence survivors. Check your local court’s instructions to see whether it applies to you.
Background Check
Some jurisdictions require a criminal background check before approving a name change, to prevent people from using the process to dodge warrants, evade creditors, or manufacture a new identity. Where required, it usually means fingerprinting and a state or FBI database search. The FBI’s fee for a fingerprint-based criminal history check is $12 for noncriminal justice purposes, though the fingerprinting service itself may add its own charge. Some counties run a simpler name-based check instead, which costs far less or nothing at all. Ask the clerk whether it applies where you’re filing.
Certified Copies of the Court Order
Once the judge signs your decree, you’ll need certified copies to prove your new name to every agency and institution holding your records. The court doesn’t hand these out for free. Each certified copy typically costs $5 to $25 depending on the court.
Order more than you think you need. Social Security, your state DMV, the passport office, your bank, your employer, and your insurance company may each want an original certified copy. Buying several at once is cheaper than driving back to the courthouse, and it lets you submit to multiple agencies at the same time instead of waiting for one to send yours back.
Updating Your Identity Documents
The court order makes the change official, but it doesn’t automatically flow through to every record with your old name. You update each one yourself, and several of those updates cost money.
Social Security Card
Start here. Many other agencies verify your new name against Social Security records before making their own changes. Updating your name with the Social Security Administration is free. You submit an application along with your certified court order or marriage certificate, and SSA mails you a new card. Do this before filing your next tax return, because the IRS matches the name on your return against SSA records, and a mismatch can delay your refund.
Driver’s License or State ID
Most state motor vehicle agencies charge a replacement fee for issuing a new license or ID with your updated name. It varies by state but commonly runs $20 to $45. Bring your certified court order or marriage certificate along with whatever other identity documents your state requires.
U.S. Passport
If your name legally changed within one year of your most recent passport being issued, you can update it for free by submitting Form DS-5504 by mail along with your current passport, a passport photo, and a certified copy of the document showing your name change. Outside that one-year window, you apply for a renewal using Form DS-82, which costs $130 for a passport book through routine processing. Expedited processing adds $60. Overnight return shipping adds another $22.05.
Birth Certificate
Amending your birth certificate is optional for most purposes, but some people want the record updated. You contact the vital records office in the state where you were born, not where you currently live. Amendment fees range from as little as $3 to around $60, and processing can take several weeks to several months depending on the office.
Voter Registration
Updating voter registration is free in every state. Many states let you do it online, or the change happens automatically when you update your driver’s license. Just confirm the update posts before any registration deadline for an upcoming election.
Banks and Deeds
Banks, credit card issuers, investment firms, and insurance companies each need to be notified individually. None should charge for a name update, but each has its own paperwork, and most want to see a certified copy. If you own real property, recording a new deed with your county recorder to reflect your new name typically carries a small recording fee.
Attorney or Document Service
A straightforward name change is manageable without a lawyer. The forms are standardized, and court clerks can point you to the right paperwork even if they can’t give legal advice.
Hiring an attorney makes sense when the situation is complicated: a contested name change, a minor with an absent parent, or a case where safety concerns require sealing the record. Attorneys handling routine adult name changes typically charge a flat fee of roughly $500 to $2,500 depending on your market and complexity. That covers preparing the paperwork, filing it, and representing you at any hearing.
Online document preparation services are a cheaper middle ground. They aren’t law firms, so they can’t give legal advice or represent you. They walk you through a questionnaire and generate the correct court forms for your jurisdiction, usually for $40 to $150. You still do the filing and any court appearance yourself.
What the Whole Process Costs, by Scenario
Putting the pieces together for the most common paths:
- Name change through marriage: $0 in court costs. You pay only for document updates, meaning a new driver’s license at $20 to $45, a passport renewal outside the one-year window at $130, and any extra certified copies of your marriage certificate.
- Court-ordered name change, handled yourself: $150 to $800 or more. The filing fee ($50 to $500) is the biggest variable, plus newspaper publication if required ($50 to $200), certified copies ($25 to $75 for several), and document updates ($20 to $175).
- Court-ordered name change with an attorney: $700 to $3,000 or more. Attorney fees stack on top of the court and administrative costs above.
A fee waiver zeroes out the filing fee itself, which pulls the DIY total down considerably. Even with a waiver, you’ll still owe for newspaper publication, certified copies, and replacement documents.