Texas Name Change Laws: How to Legally Change Your Name

Texas Family Code chapter 45 splits name changes cleanly into two subchapters: Subchapter B for adults (sections 45.101 through 45.107) and Subchapter A for minors (sections 45.001 through 45.005, which also includes section 45.0031). Both are filed in the county of residence, and neither requires newspaper publication.

What Texas asks for instead is unusual among the states in this batch. Every adult petitioner must submit a complete, FBI-format fingerprint card along with the petition, and disclose any felony conviction or sex-offender-registration status. A final felony conviction or an active registration duty bars the change outright unless the petitioner meets specific conditions. Divorce-based restoration, by contrast, is close to automatic and written into the law twice.

Information last verified on 2026-08-11. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

How to Legally Change Your Name in Texas

An adult files a petition in the county of residence (45.101). The Family Code does not specify a particular type of court beyond «the court,» and it does not set an explicit residency-duration requirement the way South Dakota's or Wyoming's statutes do; it simply requires the petition be filed in the petitioner's home county.

There is no statewide filing fee. Because Texas district clerks set their own civil filing fees, costs vary by county, with secondary sources reporting a typical range of roughly $150 to $350; Travis County's own posted instructions cite $350. A statewide Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs is available for petitioners who qualify, allowing the fee to be waived.

The most distinctive requirement is the fingerprint card. Section 45.102(a)(6) requires the petition to include a complete set of the petitioner's fingerprints, taken on a form prescribed by the Texas Department of Public Safety for submission to DPS and the FBI. Petitioners typically get this done through a service like IdentoGo's «Print and Go» program for roughly $20, a cost that is separate from and in addition to the court filing fee. Anyone assuming a Texas name change is a pure paperwork process should expect this extra step and budget the time and small cost for it.

Changing a Minor's Name

A parent, managing conservator, or guardian files the petition in the county where the child resides (45.001). The petition must disclose whether the child is subject to continuing court jurisdiction under Family Code chapter 155 and whether the child has a sex-offender-registration duty. If the child is 10 years old or older, the child's own written consent to the change must be attached to the petition (45.002(b)). A petitioner who writes the petition from these requirements can draft it in any word processor, and paid software such as PDFelement can convert that draft to PDF and use OCR to make a scanned copy of the signed consent searchable; the court still decides whether the filing is complete.

Section 45.003 gives a parent whose parental rights have not been terminated, any managing conservator, and any guardian the right to citation, issued and served in the same manner as under chapter 102. Since 2015, section 45.0031 lets such a party waive citation by filing a waiver acknowledging receipt of the filed petition. That waiver must carry the party's mailing address, may not be signed with a digitized signature, and must be sworn before a notary public who is not an attorney in the suit unless the party is incarcerated. Subchapter B carries a parallel waiver provision for adult petitions at section 45.107.

The court applies a best-interest-of-the-child standard (45.004(a)(1)). For a child subject to sex-offender registration specifically, the change must also be found in the interest of the public, and the petitioner must show proof the child notified local law enforcement of the proposed change.

Restoring Your Name After Divorce

Texas restates the same rule in two places in the Family Code, which is unusual among the states in this batch. On final disposition of a divorce or annulment, the court SHALL change a requesting party's name back to a name previously used unless the decree states a reason for denying the request, and the court may not deny the request solely because it would leave family members with different surnames. Section 6.706, in the general divorce title, and section 45.105, inside chapter 45 itself, state the rule in nearly identical terms. They do not cite each other; each instead points to section 45.106, which lets the party obtain a Change of Name Certificate from the court clerk, a one-page $10 document that serves as proof of the change when updating other records. The one substantive difference is that 6.706(c) adds that a change of name does not release a person from liability incurred under a previous name or defeat a right held under one, a clause 45.105 does not carry.

Because the standard is close to mandatory rather than discretionary, and requires no separate fingerprint-card filing the way a standalone Subchapter B petition does, requesting the restoration inside the divorce case itself is generally the more direct path.

Publication Requirements

Texas has no newspaper-publication requirement for either an adult or a minor petition, confirmed by a direct read of sections 45.102 and 45.103. Texas substitutes the fingerprint and background-disclosure model described above for the notice-by-publication approach several other states in this batch use.

Participants in Texas's Address Confidentiality Program may omit their street address and their reason for the name change from the petition, if they provide program-authorization documentation (45.102(c)). A name-change order granted to an Address Confidentiality Program participant is confidential and the court may not release it (45.103(c-1)).

Restrictions: Felony and Sex-Offender Rules

Section 45.103(a) directs that the court SHALL order a change for a petitioner who has neither a final felony conviction nor a Chapter 62 registration duty. A final felony conviction moves the petition into 45.103(b), where the court MAY order the change rather than must, and only by one of two routes. The first requires, in addition to the 45.103(a) standard, either a certificate of discharge from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice or completion of court-ordered community supervision or juvenile probation, with at least two years elapsed since that discharge or completion, or a pardon. The second, which stands on its own, is a request to change to the primary name already reflected in the petitioner's criminal-history record.

A person subject to Chapter 62 registration is governed by 45.103(c), which is not the same structure. It sets two requirements that must both be satisfied: the person must meet the 45.103(a) standard or be requesting the primary name in their criminal-history record, and the person must separately give the court proof of notifying the appropriate local law-enforcement authority of the proposed change. Neither half suffices on its own, and the discharge-and-two-years and pardon routes in 45.103(b) do not appear in 45.103(c) at all.

The 45.103(a) standard is a public-interest test rather than an explicit fraud-intent inquiry: the change must be «in the interest or to the benefit of the petitioner and in the interest of the public». That standard is not confined to unrestricted petitioners. Section 45.103(b)(1) applies it «in addition to» its own conditions and 45.103(c)(1) incorporates it by reference, so it reaches felony and registrant petitions as well. What sets unrestricted petitioners apart is that meeting it obliges the court to grant the change, while 45.103(b) and (c) leave the decision discretionary.

Name Change After Marriage

Texas has no statute dedicated to marriage-based name changes. A spouse who wants to adopt a new name at marriage does so administratively, presenting the marriage certificate to the Social Security Administration and the DMV rather than filing a court petition. For the federal-level steps involved, see name change after marriage.

Related Texas Records

For the marriage certificate or divorce decree that may support a name-change filing, see Texas marriage and divorce records. For how the state's court system handles filings and case access generally, see Texas court records. For the broader dissolution process a name restoration is part of, see Texas divorce laws. For the full agency-by-agency update process once a change is granted, see the name change checklist and how to legally change your name.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about Texas name-change law. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Fees, forms, and fingerprinting procedures vary by county and change over time; verify current details with your county district clerk or a licensed Texas attorney before relying on anything here for a specific situation.

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Last updated: 2026-08-11. Fees and forms reflect their published status as of August 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need fingerprints to change my name in Texas?

Yes. Adult petitioners must submit a complete DPS/FBI-format fingerprint card with the petition under Family Code 45.102(a)(6), typically obtained through a service like IdentoGo for about $20, in addition to the court filing fee.

Can a felon change their name in Texas?

Only under limited conditions, and never automatically. With a final felony conviction a court MAY order the change under 45.103(b) rather than must: either the 45.103(a) interest-and-benefit standard is met and the person has a certificate of discharge or completed community supervision or juvenile probation with two years elapsed, or has been pardoned; or the request is simply to change to the primary name already in the person's criminal-history record.

How do I get my maiden name back after a Texas divorce?

Request it in the divorce case itself. Family Code 6.706 and 45.105 both require the court to restore a requesting party's prior name unless the decree states a reason for denial, and the court cannot deny it just to keep family surnames matching.

Does Texas require newspaper publication for a name change?

No. Texas has no publication requirement for adult or minor petitions, substituting a fingerprint and background-disclosure process instead.

How much does a Texas name change cost?

There is no statewide fee; each county district clerk sets its own. Secondary sources report a typical range of roughly $150 to $350, plus about $20 for fingerprinting.