Overview:
To change your name, submit a petition to your local Superior Court that details the reasons you'd like to change your name. After the court approves your request, you'll then need to update your Social Security card, driver's license, and passport.
What You Should Know:
- The Social Security Administration can help you learn how to change your name on your Social Security card.
- Within 60 days of changing your name, you must visit your local Department of Driver Services to get a new driver's license in your new name. If you change your name only once during your current license period, the name change is free.
- You can update the name on your passport by securely mailing your application and fee to the U.S. Department of State.
- If, after you change your name, you'd like to see that change on your birth certificate, contact the Vital Records office in your birth state. If you were born in Georgia, consult the Department of Public Health's State Office of Vital Records.
- After you change your name on these legal documents, make sure that you correct your name with your bank, insurance companies, and all other businesses you interact with.
FAQs:
What do I need to do after I file a petition to change my name with the Superior Court Clerk's Office?
Within the week after you file the petition, you'll need to post a notice in your local newspaper stating your intent to change your name. You'll include in the notice your current name, your desired name, the court you've filed the petition with, the date you filed the petition on, and a statement admitting the right of anyone interested to object to your name change. You'll run this notice once a week for 4 weeks.
If, after these 4 weeks, no one voices objections, you can schedule your final hearing with the clerk's office, and the judge assigned to your case will consider the petition and grant the name change.
Is the process for changing names the same for minors as it is for adults?
This depends on the circumstances of your child's name change. If both you and the other parent live in the state and you both agree to the name change, then after 30 days, the court generally grants the change.
If, however, the other parent lives out of state and must be informed of the petition by mail or by the local newspaper in that area, the court will consider the name change only after 60 days have passed.
Sources: Department of Driver Services & Official Code of Georgia. This information was prepared as a public service of the State of Georgia to provide general information, not to advise on any specific legal problem. It is not, and cannot be construed to be, legal advice. If you have questions regarding any matter contained on this page, please speak with the agency that is the source of the information.