How Much Does It Cost to Change Your Name?
There is no single national price for a legal name change. Court filing fees are set state by state, and in roughly a third of states they are not even set statewide, they are set by each county, parish, or circuit, so two petitioners with identical paperwork in the same state can pay different amounts depending on which courthouse they file in. This page compiles the filing-fee picture for every state from official fee schedules and court self-help pages, flags where no statewide figure exists at all, and covers the other real costs (publication, fingerprinting, certified copies) and the paths that avoid a filing fee entirely.
Fees change, sometimes with little notice. North Dakota's fee doubled from $80 to $160 effective July 1, 2025, and Montana's own printed court fee schedule was still showing a superseded $120 figure months after the state's actual fee dropped to $90 under a 2025 amendment. Treat every figure below as a starting estimate and confirm the current amount with your own court before filing. For the underlying legal process these fees attach to, see How to Legally Change Your Name; for your state's exact current fee, forms, and fee-waiver process, see Name Change Laws by State.
Information last verified on 2026-08-11. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.
State-by-State Filing Fee Table
Figures below are typical or representative, drawn from official state and county fee schedules where one exists. Where a state sets no statewide figure, the table says so explicitly rather than guessing a number; confirm the actual amount with the court where you plan to file.
| State | Typical filing fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | No statewide fee, county-set | Secondary sources report roughly $25-$100; confirm with your county probate court |
| Alaska | $200 | Covers both adult and minor cases |
| Arizona | Varies by county | Reported $188-$301 in Maricopa County |
| Arkansas | Roughly $165 | Not an official statewide schedule; confirm with your circuit clerk |
| California | $435-$450 | Varies by county surcharge |
| Colorado | Not published statewide | Confirm with your district or county court |
| Connecticut | Probate fee reportedly eliminated in 2023 (unconfirmed) | Superior Court fee not confirmed |
| Delaware | $85 | Includes a $10 court security assessment |
| District of Columbia | $60 | |
| Florida | $400-$425 | Confirmed $401 in Broward County, $400 in Volusia County; separate roughly $40-75 fingerprinting fee |
| Georgia | Varies by county | No statewide fee; a general civil filing fee in the roughly $200-$250 range is a reasonable estimate, plus a separate publication fee |
| Hawaii | $55 | Administrative filing fee with the Lieutenant Governor's office, not a court fee; a separate $41 recording fee applies afterward |
| Idaho | $166 | |
| Illinois | Varies by circuit | Roughly $250-$390 depending on county |
| Indiana | Not published statewide | Confirm with your county clerk |
| Iowa | $215 | District court docketing fee |
| Kansas | Not published statewide | Confirm with your district court |
| Kentucky | Varies by county | Roughly $43-$128.50 depending on county |
| Louisiana | Varies by parish | Roughly $250-$500 depending on parish, plus optional publication cost |
| Maine | $75 | |
| Maryland | $165 | |
| Massachusetts | $165 | Up to $180 total if the court orders publication |
| Michigan | $150 base | Plus roughly $45 fingerprinting, $60 publication, and $30 certified copies; county variation reported (roughly $187 in Kent County) |
| Minnesota | $285 | |
| Mississippi | Not confirmed officially | Secondary aggregator estimates of roughly $93-$153 |
| Missouri | Varies by circuit | Examples: Greene County $207.50 including publication, Jasper County $127.50, Webster County $138.50 |
| Montana | $90 | Reduced from $120 by a 2025 amendment; some printed schedules have not caught up |
| Nebraska | $144 | Plus a separate newspaper publication cost |
| Nevada | Varies by county | No statewide figure confirmed; contact your judicial district |
| New Hampshire | Not confirmed | Contact the Circuit Court Probate Division |
| New Jersey | $250 | Plus roughly $50 in state filing costs and small per-copy fees |
| New Mexico | $132 | Plus certified-copy and amended-birth-certificate fees of roughly $20-25 |
| New York | Not confirmed | Contact your county's Supreme or County Court clerk |
| North Carolina | $120 | Restoring a former name after divorce is a separate, much cheaper $10 filing |
| North Dakota | $160 | Increased from $80 effective July 1, 2025 |
| Ohio | Not published statewide | Set locally by each probate court; often reported around $100-$150 |
| Oklahoma | Roughly $85 | No explicit statutory line item; inferred from the general civil catch-all fee category |
| Oregon | $124 | |
| Pennsylvania | Varies by county | Philadelphia example $349.23, with total cost often exceeding $900 once publication and copies are added |
| Rhode Island | Varies by town or city | Probate is administered locally; no statewide schedule |
| South Carolina | $150 | |
| South Dakota | Not published statewide | Contact your county clerk of courts |
| Tennessee | Not published statewide | Set by each county clerk |
| Texas | Varies by county | Typically $150-$350; Travis County specifically reports $350 |
| Utah | Roughly $375 | From a secondary source, not independently confirmed on an official fee schedule |
| Vermont | Not confirmed | Confirm with your county court |
| Virginia | Varies by county | Examples: Hanover County $41, Chesapeake $44 |
| Washington | No statewide figure | King County example: $98 filing fee plus $203.50 recording fee (~$301.50 total); set at the district-court level |
| West Virginia | Conflicting figures, roughly $25-$200 | No official schedule located; confirm with your circuit clerk |
| Wisconsin | $164.50 | Dodge County example; county-set |
| Wyoming | Roughly $120 | From a secondary source, plus separate publication costs |
Why So Many States Show No Statewide Figure
A fee that varies by county is not a research gap, it reflects how a number of states actually wrote the law. Missouri's statute, for example, sets the name-change filing fee as whatever is "now or may hereafter be allowed in similar cases" in that circuit court, delegating the number to each of the state's 45 circuits individually. Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Georgia, Arizona, and Florida show similar county-by-county or circuit-by-circuit variation. In practice, this means the single most reliable way to get an exact number is to call or check the website of the specific court where you will file, not to rely on any statewide-sounding figure you find in a search result.
Costs Beyond the Filing Fee
Publication
Where a state still requires newspaper publication of your petition, the cost is almost always separate from the filing fee, and it depends on the newspaper the court directs you to use, not a set government price. Pennsylvania petitioners in Philadelphia, for example, can see total costs climb past $900 once publication and copy fees are layered on top of the base filing fee. Publication is a shrinking requirement nationally; see How to Legally Change Your Name for which states have eliminated it recently.
Fingerprinting and Background Checks
States that require a fingerprint-based criminal-history check, including California, Colorado, Florida, and Texas, typically charge for it separately from the court filing fee. Florida's is roughly $40-75 through a private vendor; Texas petitioners generally pay around $20 for a DPS or FBI-format fingerprint card through a service like IdentoGo. Michigan applies a similar fingerprinting cost, roughly $45, for petitioners 22 and older.
Certified Copies of the Order
Once your petition is granted, you will need one or more certified copies of the signed order to actually update Social Security, your driver's license, and other records. Courts typically charge a small per-copy fee, commonly $1 to $40 depending on the state; New Mexico's district courts, for example, charge $1.50 per certified copy plus a separate $25 fee to file the certified final order with the county clerk.
Fee Waivers
Every state that publishes a fee also offers some form of waiver for petitioners who cannot afford it, usually called an in forma pauperis application, a poverty affidavit, or a fee-waiver request. California uses Form FW-001; Washington offers a full waiver on a financial-hardship affidavit; most states use a similar standard-indigency process handled by the clerk's office rather than a name-change-specific form. Ask your court's self-help center or clerk about the current form when you file.
The Free (or Nearly Free) Paths
The Marriage Certificate
In the roughly nine states that codify a marriage-based name change (including Iowa, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, North Dakota, and New Hampshire), the change happens through the marriage-license application itself, with no separate court filing fee at all. See Name Change After Marriage for how that works and its limits.
Restoring a Name Through a Divorce Decree
Many states let you restore a former name as part of the divorce decree itself, avoiding a second filing fee entirely. North Carolina's dedicated resumption filing, for comparison, is $10, a fraction of the state's $120 general name-change fee. Illinois goes further and requires no petition at all for a divorcing spouse resuming a former name. See Name Change After Divorce for how the mechanism varies by state.
Updating Your Social Security Card
However you got your new legal name, updating it with the Social Security Administration is free. The SSA also exempts a name-change replacement card from the federal cap on how many replacement Social Security cards you can request in a year or over your lifetime, so using this path never counts against your limited replacement-card allowance. See Name Change Checklist for the full agency update sequence, including the passport office's own fee-free replacement window.
Disclaimer
This article provides general information about the costs of a legal name change in the United States. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Fees are set by state and often by county, and they change without much notice; confirm the current amount and any fee-waiver process with your local court before filing. Consult a licensed attorney for guidance specific to your situation.
Last updated: 2026-08-11. Fees reflect their published status as of August 2026 and are subject to change without notice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is there no single national fee for a name change?
Filing fees are set by state law, and in a number of states the statute itself delegates the amount to each county, parish, or judicial circuit rather than setting one statewide figure. Confirm the exact amount with the specific court where you plan to file.
Is changing your name on your Social Security card free?
Yes. There is no fee to update your name with the Social Security Administration, and a name-change replacement card does not count against the federal limit on replacement Social Security cards.
Can I get a fee waiver for a name-change petition?
Most states offer some form of fee waiver, commonly called in forma pauperis or a poverty affidavit, for petitioners who cannot afford the filing fee. The specific form and standard vary by state; ask your court's clerk or self-help center.
Does the filing fee include publication and fingerprinting costs?
Usually not. Where a state requires newspaper publication or a fingerprint-based background check, those are typically separate costs on top of the base court filing fee.
Is it cheaper to change your name through marriage or divorce than through a general petition?
Often, yes. States that codify a marriage-based name change let you do it through the marriage-license application at no separate court cost, and several states let you restore a former name in a divorce decree for free or for a much smaller fee than a standard petition.
Updates
Governing law re-checked for recent changes
Independently fact-checked against the cited primary sources
Sources and References
- California Courts Self-Help, Change Your Name(selfhelp.courts.ca.gov).gov
- Broward County Clerk of Courts, Fees and Costs(browardclerk.org).gov
- North Dakota Courts, District Court Fees(ndcourts.gov).gov
- Montana Code Annotated §25-1-201, Fees of clerk of district court(mca.legmt.gov).gov
- North Carolina General Statutes §50-12, Resumption of maiden or premarriage surname(ncleg.gov).gov
- Missouri Revised Statutes §527.280, Change of name(revisor.mo.gov).gov
- SSA Program Operations Manual System, RM 10205.400, Limit on Replacement Social Security Cards(secure.ssa.gov).gov
- Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, 22 CFR 51.54, Fee-free replacement of a passport(ecfr.gov).gov