How to Change Your Last Name in PA After Divorce: Forms and Agencies

To change your last name in PA after divorce, the path depends on the name you want. If you’re going back to a maiden name or an earlier surname you already used, you file a one-page Notice of Intention to Resume Prior Surname at the county Prothonotary’s office, pay a small fee, and you’re done. If you want a name you’ve never held before, you have to file a formal name change petition in the Court of Common Pleas, get fingerprinted, publish notice in two newspapers, and appear at a hearing.

Resuming a Maiden Name or Prior Surname

Pennsylvania law under 54 Pa.C.S. § 704 lets any divorcing or divorced person resume a prior surname without a judge’s approval or any provision in the divorce decree.¹ The prior surname can be your maiden name or a surname from an earlier marriage. There is no time limit on when you can do this after your divorce.

The court uses a standardized form called the Notice of Intention to Resume Prior Surname, also known as Form 15, available on the Pennsylvania Courts website.² On the form you enter your current legal name, whether you were plaintiff or defendant in the divorce, the divorce docket number and date, and the surname you want to resume. You sign twice, once with your current name and once with the resumed name. Some counties require notarization before you file, so call your Prothonotary’s office first.

You file the completed form at the Prothonotary’s office in the county where the divorce was filed, along with a certified copy of your divorce decree and a photo ID. Fees are modest and vary by county. Centre County charges $22, for example.³ Once filed, the stamped notice is your legal proof of the name change, and you’ll want several certified copies for updating records later.

If Your Divorce Was Granted in Another State

An out-of-state divorce doesn’t cut you off from this simple process. You file the same Notice of Intention to Resume Prior Surname, but at the Prothonotary in the Pennsylvania county where you now live rather than the county of the divorce.⁴ Bring a certified copy of the out-of-state decree with your form and photo ID.

Taking a Brand-New Name Instead

The notice process only works for a name you already held. If you want something different, you have to use the full name change procedure under 54 Pa.C.S. § 701, filed in the Court of Common Pleas in the county where you live.¹ This is the same route anyone in Pennsylvania takes for a legal name change, and it costs more and takes longer.

The petition itself has to state your reason for the change, your current address, and every address where you lived in the five years before filing. Along with the petition you submit:

Fingerprints, taken at a State Police station after you pick up a fingerprint card from the Prothonotary
The results of the criminal background check run from those fingerprints, presented at your hearing
A judgment search certificate from every county where you lived during the past five years, showing any civil judgments or liens against you
A certified copy of your divorce decree, attached as an exhibit
A certified copy of your birth certificate

Petition forms come from your county Prothonotary; some counties post them online. After filing, the court will order you to publish notice of the petition in two newspapers of general circulation in your county, and one of the two can be the county’s official legal newspaper.¹ Call the papers for pricing. If publishing your name would put your safety at risk, you can ask the court to waive publication and seal the file.

The hearing is scheduled one to three months after filing. Anyone with a lawful objection can appear. You present your proof of publication, the background check results, and the judgment search. If the judge is satisfied, they sign an order granting the name change. Ask for several certified copies right there — you’ll need them.

Filing fees for the full petition vary widely. Centre County charges $156.³ Westmoreland County charges $177.⁵ Philadelphia charges $349.23.⁶ Add fingerprinting, the judgment search, newspaper publication, and certified copies, and the total can reach several hundred dollars.

Update Social Security First

Once your name change is official, update your Social Security record before anything else, because other agencies check names against SSA data. File Form SS-5, Application for a Social Security Card, either at a local Social Security office or by mail.⁷ Submit it with your certified name change document (the filed notice of resumption or the court order) and a current government-issued ID. The SSA requires originals or copies certified by the issuing agency, not photocopies.

In-person applications generally produce a new card in 7 to 10 business days. Mail-in applications typically take 2 to 4 weeks.⁸ You don’t necessarily need to wait for the physical card before heading to PennDOT — the SSA can provide a receipt showing your new name was processed, and PennDOT accepts that in some cases.

Driver’s License and PennDOT

Changing the name on your Pennsylvania driver’s license or photo ID requires an in-person visit to a PennDOT Driver License Center.⁹ Bring the original certified court order or filed notice of resumption — not a photocopy. For a divorce-related resumption, that means the certified divorce decree together with your filed notice.

If you hold a REAL ID or are getting one, PennDOT needs paperwork that links your birth certificate name to your current legal name in an unbroken chain: certified marriage certificates for each marriage that changed your name, or court orders for other changes. If you were married more than once, bring certificates for each name change in sequence. Divorce papers are only needed if you’re returning to a maiden name.¹⁰

Passport

What you file depends on timing. If your passport was issued less than a year ago and your name change also happened within that year, use Form DS-5504 by mail. There’s no fee, though expedited processing costs an extra $60.¹¹ Include your current passport, a certified copy of the name change document, and one new passport photo.

If more than a year has passed since either your passport was issued or your name was changed, you file Form DS-82 to renew by mail or Form DS-11 to apply in person, and you pay the standard passport fees.¹¹ Start early if you have travel planned, since processing can run several weeks.

Tax Returns

The IRS doesn’t have its own name change form. It matches the name and Social Security number on your return against SSA records, and mismatches can delay refunds.¹² The fix is to update your name with SSA before you file. If SSA hasn’t caught up by filing day, file under your former name to keep the records in sync.

If an employer issued a W-2 or 1099 in your old name after you updated with SSA, ask for a corrected form. You can also correct the name on your copy when filing. Either way, all your income goes on one return under the name SSA has on file.¹²

Banks, Credit Bureaus, and Everything Else

Once your government IDs match, work through your financial accounts: banks, credit cards, retirement accounts, insurance policies, investment accounts. Most institutions want a certified copy of your court order or filed notice plus a current government-issued ID in your new name. Having the updated driver’s license in hand speeds all of it up.

Update your name with each of the three major credit bureaus separately — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — so your credit history follows the new name. Equifax, for instance, takes the request through its online dispute portal; make clear it’s a legal name change, not a data error, and upload supporting documentation such as your court order, updated driver’s license, or Social Security card. Processing runs up to 30 days. Your credit file isn’t reset; the existing history is simply associated with your new name.

Beyond that, notify your employer’s payroll and HR departments, voter registration, any professional licensing boards, your health insurance, and your children’s schools if you’re a listed contact. A checklist and a stack of certified copies make the whole thing move faster, since many updates can be batched.

1
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 54 – Names, Chapter 7
2
Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts. Form 15 – Notice of Intention to Resume Prior Surname
3
Centre County, PA – Official Website. Centre County Prothonotary – Fee Schedule
4
Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas. Resume Prior Surname – Self Help
5
Westmoreland County, PA. Court Fees
6
Philadelphia Courts. Name Change Petition
7
Social Security Administration. Application for a Social Security Card
8
Social Security Administration. How Long Will It Take to Get a Social Security Card?
9
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Change a Driver’s License or Photo ID Name or Address
10
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. REAL ID Document Requirements
11
U.S. Department of State. Name Change for U.S. Passport or Correct a Printing or Data Error
12
Internal Revenue Service. Name Changes and Social Security Number Matching Issues