How To Change My Name In Georgia

Updated Dec 02, 2021

A Georgia proper noun change class is used to formally request a name change for an adult or a small-scale who resides in the Land. All documents must be submitted to the superior court which has jurisdiction in the canton where the bidder resides. If the applicant's proper name is being changed considering of a union or a divorce, the proper noun change forms are non needed. Instead, the person can simply point their desire to change their proper name when establishing their marriage or divorce policies. Changing one'southward name for whatsoever other reason volition require the applicant to file the name modify forms and pay the corresponding fees.

Laws– § nineteen-12-1

Proper noun Change Later Marriage

Your marriage license application will contain a space in which you can specify a new last name. The new name can be either your spouse's last name, a hyphenated name containing both your and your spouse'south last name, or a name which is a combination of the ii. Enter the new name in the applicable space of the form and file your wedlock license application. The change of name is merely effective once the marriage is legal and the license has been issued.

Name Change After Divorce

When filling out your divorce papers, you will have the selection to revert to your former name by entering the proper noun in the space which has been dedicated to this purpose. This step is all that's needed to inform the court of your desire to change your name. Once your divorce is concluding and you have received your divorce prescript, the name change volition exist legal and y'all may brainstorm to utilize the new name.

Developed Proper noun Modify (No Marriage or Divorce)

An adult change of proper noun application must be filed with the superior courtroom in the county where you reside. The request will be submitted to the court via a written petition that states the purpose of the change also as your personal information. You volition be required to pay for all of the superior court filings fees unless your income is low enough for a court approved exemption. However, the exemption will simply use to the fees demanded by the superior court and not those required for publication or notarization.

Step i – Fill out Petition

Enter your change of name data on a Petition to Change Name of Adult grade. Ensure that the example number and the signature fields are left unfilled. If you currently reside in a shelter supporting victims of family violence, practice non enter that accost. You should instead mention the proper noun of the shelter and state where it is located.

Stride ii – Set Verification Form

The Verification of Petition to Modify Name of Developed form will be used to verify the authenticity of the contents of your Petition. Fill out the course completely excluding the case number line and signature field.

Step 3 – Fill up out Detect of Petition

When you submit your filings to the superior courtroom, you volition be required to publish a notice of your petition in a local newspaper. The grade used for this purpose is the Discover of Petition to Change Name of Adult. Fill out the document in the same manner as you did the previous forms, leaving the instance number and signature fields unfilled. Note that the appointment you enter in the torso paragraph of the Find course must be the bodily date that you file the Petition.

Step 4 – Sign Documents in front of a Notary Public

Review your filings to ensure that they accept been filled out accurately. Next, take your paperwork to a notary public and sign your documents in their presence. The notary will then complete the unfilled area of the Verification class and return each certificate back to yous. If there is a Family unit Law Data Heart available in your county, the Heart tin can notarize your documents for complimentary. A notary can also be found at most banks and fiscal institutions.

Step 5 – Set Information Grade

Download the General Civil Case Filing Information Form (Non-Domestic) and input your instance details.

Important Information:

Select "Superior" in the upper-left portion of the form
Leave the "Docket Number" and "Date Filed" areas unfilled
Select the "Pro Se" box
Leave the "Defendants" area unfilled
Below "Bank check Chief Type," select "Other General Civil Specify" and enter "Name Change"
Do not fill in the "If Tort is Example Type" box

Footstep 6 – Make Copies

Afterward completing the requisite paperwork and having the documents notarized, brand several photocopies of each class. Keep these copies neatly organized and stored in a rubber identify for future reference if needed.

Step vii –File with a Clerk of the Superior Court

Visit the superior court filing location in your county and submit your filings to a clerk. Be sure to bring a photocopy of each grade. Upon submission of your documents, you lot will exist required to provide two filing fees; the processing fee for your petition too as a separate publication fee. Contact the superior court in your county prior to filing in society to decide the exact corporeality for each fee.

If you have a low income and are unable to afford the processing fee demanded by the superior court, you can request an exemption by filing an Affidavit of Poverty and an Order on Affidavit of Poverty form with the clerk. Each form has been provided below for those who reside in Dekalb county. Contact your superior court to obtain local versions of these documents. Note that the Affirmation does not exempt you lot from paying the publication fee.

Affidavit of Poverty
Guild on Affirmation of Poverty

After paying the filing fees, or after your exemption request has been approved, the clerk will give y'all a case number and stamp your photocopies with a appointment & time stamp. Your documents volition then exist returned to yous. Before leaving the office, ask the clerk to tell y'all which judge will be handling your example as well as the contact information for the judge's calendar clerk.

Pace viii – Publication of Observe

Later your submission has been processed, the clerk volition forwards your Notice of Petition to Change Name of Adult to a local newspaper. Subsequently, the newspaper will publish the Notice one time each week for four (iv) sequent weeks. This procedure is meant to inform the general public of your request for a name change and to allow any interested political party to prepare their objections.

The newspaper will supply yous with a Publisher's Affidavit after the Notice has been published. Make a copy of this form for your personal records.

Step nine – Await and Prepare for Last Hearing

Y'all will demand to look at to the lowest degree thirty (30) days from your initial filing date earlier a hearing for your example tin be held. During this flow of fourth dimension, prepare the following forms and take them fix for submission:

Final Society Changing Proper name of Adult
- Fill out the grade completely except for the gauge's signature field
General Civil Case Final Disposition Form (Not-Domestic)
- Select "Superior" in the upper-left portion of the form
- Enter "Petitioner" in a higher place "Title"
- Enter your name in "Plaintiff/Petitioner's Attorney"
- Select the "Pro Se" box
- Leave the defendant/respondent areas unfilled
- Select the "Bench Trail" box in "Type of Disposition"
- Leave the "Award" and "Judgment on Verdict" sections unfilled
- In "ADR," select "No" in response to whether or not ADR was utilized

Step x – Schedule Hearing

Contact the agenda clerk for the judge who was appointed to your case. The contact information for the clerk should have been provided to you lot when you submitted your filings. Be prepare to provide your instance number and any additional data pertaining to your example. Enquire the clerk to adjust a engagement and time for your final hearing.

Note: Certain courts require appointments for hearings while others accept specific days and hours of the week defended to hearings of this nature.

Step 11 – Nourish Hearing

Get to the court on the scheduled date and time. You volition need to take the following documents with you and ready for submission to the court:

Copy of Petition to Change Name of Adult
Re-create of Notice of Petition to Modify Name of Developed
Publisher'due south Affirmation (from paper)
Last Order Changing Name of Developed
General Civil Example Final Disposition Grade (Non-Domestic)

When you arrive at the courtroom, the approximate will ask you to provide your petition information. The gauge may besides ask you lot additional questions relating to your change of name request. The judge will then determine whether or not your request is valid. If your asking is authorized, the judge will sign the Final Order grade and return information technology to you lot. Lastly, exit the courtroom and ask a clerk to make you a certified copy of the Final Order form (a fee volition be required for this service). This certified copy will exist the legal evidence of your alter of proper name.

Driver's License

The Land of Georgia requires individuals who accept recently changed their names to notify the Department of Commuter Services (DDS) inside lx (60) days of the change. Withal, before contacting the DDS, it will exist necessary for you lot to apply for a new social security card.

To obtain a new social security card, y'all will need to submit the following documents to a Social Security Assistants (SSA) part:

A completed Application for a Social Security Menu
Proof of name change, such as your marriage certificate or divorce decree
Proof of identity, such as your driver's license or passport
Proof of U.S. citizenship, such as your nascency document or citizenship document

Review the SSA list of accepted documents to find out what forms tin can be used. A new social security card will be mailed to you afterward your application has been processed.

Side by side, you volition need visit a DDS office in person and supply them with the post-obit:

Current Georgia driver'due south license
Proof of proper noun alter, such as your divorce decree or court order (see listing of accepted documents)
Payment for the fee (if applicable)

Your first proper name change with the DDS volition be free. If this is not your first proper noun change, contact the office prior to your visit in order to discover out the verbal amount.

Note: A driver's license which expires inside the next one hundred and fifty (150) days must exist renewed. Thus, a different filing procedure is required. Learn more by reviewing the license renewal and Georgia identification cards webpages.

Voter Registration

Updating the name on your registered voter information can simply be achieved afterward you lot have changed your proper noun with the Georgia Department of Driver Services (see to a higher place).

Your voter registration information can be updated either online, by postal service, or in person. To update online, navigate to this webpage and select the push button for name changes. If you'd like to update your name by mail or in person, submit a Voter Registration Form to the County Lath of Registrars Office (in person) or to the Secretary of Country (by mail). If submitting in person, brand sure you select the "Modify of Proper noun" box plant on the right side of the class.

Minor (Child) Name Change

A minor's proper name can be changed if both natural parents and the legal guardians (if applicative) consent to the request or take been formally served with copies of the case filings. Before proceeding with your application, consider whether or not the other parents or guardian may disagree with the decision to change the kid's name as their choice will affect your filing process. Furthermore, the process volition be slightly more complicated if the whereabouts of the other parents or guardians is unknown.

Step 1 – Fill up out Petition

Get-go past downloading the Petition to Alter Proper noun(s) of Minor Child(ren). Prepare the form by filling in the empty spaces with the requisite information. However, do not fill in the case number line and do not supply your signature.

Boosted Instructions:

If you are the kid's natural parent, enter the other parent's proper name every bit the Respondent
If yous are the child'due south legal guardian, enter both parents' names as the Respondent
If the child has no living parents, leave the Respondent area empty
If yous are living in a shelter that supports victims of family unit abuse, practise not list the address of the shelter

The data provided in the above additional instructions is applicative to all forms used in this tutorial.

Step 2 – Prepare the Verification Grade

A verification course volition be used to confirm that you lot fully understand the effect of the request for a alter of proper name. It will too be used to confirm the accuracy of the information mentioned in the Petition. Download the Verification of Name Alter Petition for Minor Child(ren) and fill up in the empty spaces of the form. Be certain to leave the case number and signature fields empty.

Step 3 – Provide Consent

You will need to indicate your consent to the small's change of proper noun by filling out a Consent to Change Proper noun(s) of Minor Kid(ren) and Acknowledgment of Service grade. Do not sign the document and do not enter the case number. If the child's other parents or legal guardian consents to the asking for the alter of proper noun, they must be provided with a re-create of the Petition and fill out the aforementioned Consent grade unless either of the following exceptions employ:

The individual has not supported the child for at least 5 (five) years earlier the date that the Petition is filed
The individual has abandoned the kid
The individual has died

If the other parents or guardian does not consent to the request for a change of name, a different process is required (see stride ten).

Step iv – Ready the Notice Form

In Georgia, all change of proper noun petitioners must publish a notice of their petition in a local newspaper in order to notify the general public. The form that you lot will need to submit for publication is the Notice of Petition to Modify Proper noun(due south) of Pocket-sized Child(ren). Gear up the form past supplying the requisite petition information. There are two (2) areas on the class in which a appointment must be entered. In the first area, the date you lot enter must be the actual date that you file the Petition. Leave the case number and signature fields empty.

Pace v – Sign in Front of a Notary Public

With your forms fully prepared, each document must be taken to a notary public and signed in their presence. If the kid has other parents or some other guardian who has completed a Consent form (see step 3), they must also announced earlier a notary public and sign. Contact the Family unit Law Information Centre in your county to notice out how they can notarize your documents for free. Yous tin besides locate a notary public at near local banks and credit unions.

Step half-dozen – Ready Data Course

The General Civil Case Filing Information Grade (Non-Domestic) must be included with your filings when your Petition is submitted to the superior court. Download the form and fill information technology in with your petition information.

Additional Instructions:

Choose "Superior" in the upper-left area of the form
Exercise not enter the "Docket Number" or "Date Filed"
Cull the "Pro Se" box
Practise not fill in the "Defendants" area
Beneath "Check Primary Type," cull "Other General Civil Specify" and enter "Proper name Change"
Go out the "If Tort is Case Type" box empty

Stride 7 – Make Copies

At this betoken, your filings should be properly prepared and gear up for submission. However, earlier filing, brand several photocopies of each document. There should be enough copies to exist able to provide the child's other parents or guardian with a set of the forms. Additionally, brand a gear up of photocopies for yourself.

Step 8 – File with the Superior Court

Take your filing bundle to the superior court in your county and submit your paperwork, including a fix of photocopies. A filing fee must exist paid at this time. Contact a clerk in advance to determine the corporeality. In add-on to the superior court filing fee, you lot volition also be required to pay for a separate publication fee (usually $forty).

If y'all are unable to afford the superior court filing fee due to a low income, an exemption tin can exist requested by submitting an Affidavit of Poverty and an Order on Affidavit of Poverty. This exemption does not cover the cost of publication. These forms are available below and are meant for utilize in Dekalb county, though a local version of these documents tin be obtained at the superior courtroom or at a Family Law Information Centre.

Affidavit of Poverty
Order on Affidavit of Poverty

The clerk will provide yous with your instance number subsequently your filings have been candy. The clerk will as well stamp the set of photocopies and render them to you lot; keep these in a safe place for future reference. Lastly, ask the clerk to tell you the name of the estimate who will be reviewing your case as well as the proper name and contact information for the corresponding agenda clerk.

Step nine – Publication of Notice

Afterward filing with the clerk, he or she will accommodate to have your Notice of Petition to Alter Name(south) of Minor Child(ren) published in a county newspaper. The article volition be published in one case a week for four (four) consecutive weeks. You lot will receive an Affidavit from the newspaper after the commodity has been published.

Pace 10 – Serve Petition to Other Parent(s) or Guardian

It will be necessary for you to contact the kid's parent(s) and/or guardian to inform them that the request for a modify of name has been filed. If the individual has already signed a Consent to Change Name(southward) of Minor Kid(ren) and Acknowledgment of Service form (see footstep 3), and signed said form in front of a notary public, no further action is required. Nonetheless, if the private volition not sign the consent form, you must utilise one of the service methods mentioned below.

Personal Service

Personal service is when a deputy sheriff hand delivers copies of your filings to the individual. This method of service can only be used if there is a known address where the individual tin can be served. You should be able to request personal service at the time that your Petition is filed. Otherwise, contact a local Sheriff's Department to conform for personal service. There will be a required fee regardless of where personal service is requested.

Ensure that the sheriff includes a Sheriff'due south Entry of Service form when serving the individual. Once service is completed, the sheriff will provide you with the proper documentation indicating the service transaction. This documentation must exist filed with the superior court in your county.

Certified Mail service Service

Certified mail should be used when the individual resides in a state other than Georgia. To serve using this method, send a copy of the Observe and the Petition to the individual past certified mail service (return receipt requested). You should receive a green card from the postal service function after the letter of the alphabet has been delivered. Y'all must then consummate a Document of Service form and attach it to the dark-green card. Adjacent, photocopy the green card as well as the Certificate of Service and file them with the superior court.

Service by Publication

Service past publication should only exist used if yous cannot find out where the individual lives or works. Earlier attempting to employ this method of service, y'all must have exhausted all possibilities of locating the individual. The court will need proof of the efforts taken to find the person.

Download the Service by Publication Packet which contains the necessary paperwork. The post-obit documents are available in the Packet:

Affirmation of Diligent Search
- Must be signed in front of a notary public
Order for Service by Publication, Return of Service, and Society Perfecting Service

Later on completing the paperwork constitute within the Service by Publication Parcel, make copies of the documents. Adjacent, file the original forms with a clerk of the superior court. The clerk will sign the Order for Service by Publication area plant on page ii of the packet.

The clerk volition then post the previously completed Notice of Petition to Change Name(s) of Minor Child(ren) to the private'due south last known accost. Following that, the clerk will complete the Render of Service expanse establish on folio 2 of the packet. The remaining portion of page 2 will exist completed past a judge.

To exist as thorough as possible, it'due south recommended that you personally mail service copies of the Petition and Notice forms to the individual's last known residential address. Exist sure to provide a return address as the post role may be unable to locate the individual.

Considering y'all have already arranged to have a notice published in a newspaper, there are no further actions required in terms of publication. If at whatsoever indicate earlier your terminal hearing you discover where the individual lives, arrange for the sheriff to serve the private by personal service or have the person complete a Consent form.

Stride 11 – Wait and Prepare for Concluding Hearing

Georgia constabulary requires a waiting period between the fourth dimension the final parent or guardian was served and the appointment of the final hearing. If the child'due south parents or guardian lives in Georgia, the waiting time is thirty (xxx) days from the appointment that the concluding individual was served. If any of the individuals alive outside of Georgia, yous must instead look sixty (60) days. Additionally, the publication requirement must be met before a hearing can be held.

While you expect for the required amount of fourth dimension, prepare the following documents:

Final Gild Irresolute Name(southward) of Minor Child(ren)
- Practise non sign in a higher place the "JUDGE" signature field
Full general Ceremonious Case Final Disposition Form (Non-Domestic)
- Select "Superior" box found beneath "Court"
- Enter "Petitioner" as your title
- Fill in your name as the "Plaintiff/Petitioner's Attorney"
- Select the "Pro Se" box
- Leave the defendant/respondent areas empty
- Cull the "Bench Trail" box in "Type of Disposition"
- Leave the "Award" and "Judgment on Verdict" sections empty
- In "ADR," select "No"

Step 12 – Schedule Hearing

Have your court papers on hand and contact the calendar clerk who was assigned to your example. Yous volition be asked to provide your instance number too as other information relating to the change of proper noun. Later the clerk has been provided with the necessary information, ask the clerk to schedule your last hearing.

Certain courts do not allow for scheduled appointments of this variety. In these instances, you will instead need to nourish your hearing during the advisable concern hours.

Footstep 13 – Attend Hearing

Before showing up for your court hearing, ensure that y'all have copies following documents:

Petition to Change Name(s) of Minor Child(ren)
Consent to Alter Proper noun(s) of Pocket-size Child(ren) and Acknowledgement of Service
Notice of Petition to Change Proper name(s) of Minor Child(ren)
Publisher's Affidavit (received from newspaper)

Yous must as well bring the Final Order for Irresolute Proper noun(s) of Minor Child(ren) form and the General Ceremonious Instance Final Disposition Class (Not-Domestic).

When you appear before the judge, you lot may exist asked to respond to questions apropos the reason for the change of proper name. The judge will review your case and make a ruling. If the change of name is canonical, the estimate volition sign the Terminal Club form and render the document to you. Go out the court and enquire a clerk to brand you at least one (i) certified copy of the Terminal Order form (additional fee may be required). This document is what's needed to legally prove that your name has been changed.

Source: https://eforms.com/name-change/ga/

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