Official name change

[I Shall Engrave]

I'm researching the process of legally changing my first and last name. Apparently I have to appeal to a court and pay a fine. It seems like a tedious process because it consists of finding all of my documents as proof of identity, changing my name on most of said documents, and getting approval from a judge.

Have you ever gone through this or known someone who has? Some insight would be helpful.

Would you consider this procedure?

[Mousy]

Well, just changing my last name was a pain in the butt after I got married. So many forms. So many lines.
I don't know about all of that court and appeal stuff. I guess my version of that was getting my marriage license bc of course that's what all of the other places required of me. And birth certificate and social and drivers license.

And you have to pay a fee for like everything.
I do not envy the process you are about to go through.

[I Shall Engrave]

You wouldn't have to go through the court if you're changing your last name for marriage. I have other personal reasons.

The fee is $65 but I'm not sure if it's inclusive for everything.

I'm not doing it until I'm completely independent. It won't be known until it's done.

[Mousy]

You still have to go to the courthouse for the JP and pay a fee to get the marriage licence, but if you do counseling, you can get it cheaper.

Even still, both processes are tedious and costly.

[Lemon Cheesecake]

I haven't known anyone who has changed their name other then for marriage or business name change (which you have to have it in a newspaper for a set amount of time for that). Good luck!

[galled]

You wouldn't have to go through the court if you're changing your last name for marriage. I have other personal reasons.

The fee is $65 but I'm not sure if it's inclusive for everything.

I'm not doing it until I'm completely independent. It won't be known until it's done.

Perhaps this is at the root of your dream?

[Diana]

I have a coworker who recently changed just her first name. She said it cost her $400, and almost a month to do. I think it involved appealing to court, running a notice in the newspaper, and a few other things.

[I Shall Engrave]

galled: I doubt it. I don't give it much thought since it's not happening soon. It could be one of the myriad of things I keep from my family.

Diana: I heard that you do have to announce your name change in the paper unless you have a special reason not to. I doubt I'll be exempted from that.

[galled]

I'm reading between the lines a bit so I may be wrong, but know that if you're changing your name to hide/not be found, you can still be found. It might be a little harder to find you, but you can still be found. Compared to the old days when you had to go to the records department and search, *everything* is on the internet today and your new name can be found/connected to you literally in a couple of minutes (although you may have to pay something for it now). I've been the victim of stalking and have had my identity stolen so I've learned a bit about privacy and how to keep it in the process.

[Maro]

I legally changed my name at 18, all i needed was two pieces of ID [photo & otherwise like mail with my address on it and my birth certificate]
the only thing is my dad lost my birth certificate so i had to pay for a new one and THEN pay for my name change , wait for it to go through court and have it approved and then go pick up the new certificate with my new name on it, all in all it cost me 65 bucks or so, which wasn't bad.


but then again i live in canada. >v>;