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 45.106) and Subchapter A for minors (sections 45.001 through 45.005). 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)).

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, restate this identical rule and cross-reference each other. Section 45.106 lets the party then obtain a Change of Name Certificate directly from the court clerk to use when updating other records.

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

A person with a final felony conviction is barred from changing their name unless one of three conditions is met: the sentence, including any community supervision, is complete and at least two years have passed since; the person has been pardoned; or the petitioner is requesting to change to the primary name already reflected in their own criminal-history record.

A person subject to sex-offender registration is barred under the same structure, unless one of those felony conditions applies, or the person provides proof they notified the appropriate local law-enforcement authority of the proposed change.

For petitioners who face neither restriction, the court's 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» (45.103(a)).

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.