A Summary of Legal Name Change Process

There are many reasons one would like to go through the process of legal name change. The law has allowed any citizen to file a petition to have his or her name change at any point in life. Name change allows you to acquire a new identity that suits your new situation. Though everyone has a right to change his or her name, there are reasons or situations where your request will be declined.

• The request will be declined if the judge or officer realizes that you are intending to commit a crime.
• Legal name change will also be denied if the intention is to escape liabilities of a criminal or civil nature. This means that people with debts are likely to be denied the opportunity to change name.
• Your request for legally change your name will be declined if the intention is to mislead, especially members of the public. This happens when you adapt the name of a celebrity or popular person. There must be a justification for choosing the name.
• Numerals and punctuation are not admitted in legal name change. You will therefore not be allowed to use a letter, for instance, 9 as your name. However, there are jurisdictions where you are allowed to spell out the letter and thus your name becomes ‘Nine’.
• Racial slurs are not allowed when changing a name. They would be offensive to a race especially when pronounced in public.
• The officer will decline your request to change name if you go for an offensive name, intimidating or obscene name during your legal name change documentation. The idea is to protect people and prevent anxiety when a name is called out in public or included as part of public discourse.

Why Change Your Name?

Each person has a reason for changing his name. As long as the reason is not among those mentioned, your application will not attract any delays. You are allowed to go through the process of
name change after divorce. This allows you to get a new identity or return to your previous names by dropping that of your spouse.

Marriage is the other reason the law allows you to undertake the legal name change process. During this process you may take the name of your spouse, create a new name by bridging your names, hyphenate your names or add that of your spouse as a sir name. There are couples who choose to take new names in order to acquire a new identity away from that of the husband or wife. You must undertake legal name change even in situations where you wish to retain your professional or public name for the sake of identity or business yet change your name on official documents.

There are instances when legal name change is done in secrecy to conceal the identity of a person. This is in such cases as rape or where a spouse may be violent. Persons on witness protection may also undertake legal name change in secrecy. As such, they are not required to publish their names on circulating newspapers.

It is best to consult a specialist in legal name change in order to discuss your options. These specialists are agents who have assisted numerous people with name change for years and thus understand the process. You will get assistance on the documents to prepare in order to reduce the time it takes to complete your legal name change process. By supplying details of all institutions that need to adapt your new name, the agents will take up the hustle on your behalf. Within a few weeks, you will be operating under a new name and identity without the headache of lining up in offices and spending endless hours pushing your paper. The charges by legal name change agents are minimal compared to the benefits you get.

Requirements for Legal Name Change

Each state has different requirements for people who want to change their names. The documents and procedures to follow will also depend on the uniqueness of your situation. For instance, in case your reason for legal name change is marriage, you will be required to present your marriage certificate. In situations where divorce has caused you to seek change of name, the divorce decree will plead your case. In fact, you can request the judge to include a ruling on legal name change alongside that on divorce. Reverting to your original name is also easier since proof and documents already existed with your original name.