How to Change Your Name in DuPage County, Illinois

To change your name in DuPage County, Illinois, you file a petition with the 18th Judicial Circuit Court in Wheaton, attend a short hearing, and receive a signed order from the judge that becomes your legal proof of the new name. Illinois rewrote its name-change statute effective March 1, 2025, dropping the old newspaper publication requirement and shortening the residency threshold to three months, so the process is now faster and more private than most older guides describe.

Who Can File

Any Illinois resident who will have lived in the state for at least three months by the hearing date can petition. You file in the county where you live, so DuPage County residents file with the 18th Judicial Circuit. Adults file for themselves; a parent or legal guardian files for a child under 18.¹

Some criminal convictions block or complicate a petition. If you have a felony conviction anywhere in the United States and your sentence has not been completed, terminated, or discharged, you cannot petition unless you receive a pardon. Once the sentence is fully discharged, you regain eligibility with no additional waiting period.¹

People currently required to register under the Sex Offender Registration Act, the Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Registration Act, or the Arsonist Registration Act generally cannot file during the registration period. Narrow exceptions exist for marriage, religious beliefs, trafficking survivor status, and gender identity under the Illinois Human Rights Act, all sworn under oath and still subject to the judge’s discretion.¹ The State’s Attorney has 30 days to object to a petition filed by someone convicted of identity theft or certain offenses involving minors.²

The Forms You Need

Illinois uses statewide standardized forms that every circuit clerk, including DuPage County, must accept. For an adult name change, you file three:³

Request for Name Change. This is the petition itself. It asks for your current legal name, the name you want, your residence, how long you have lived in Illinois, and your state or country of birth.
Notice of Court Date Request for Name Change, which carries the hearing date and case details.
Order for Name Change, the proposed order the judge signs if the petition is granted.

The petition includes a sworn statement disclosing any felony or misdemeanor convictions or charges against you or any adult covered by the petition. If anything on that disclosure prompts review, the court or State’s Attorney can require you to update your criminal history transcript through the Illinois State Police before the hearing goes forward.⁴

Download the forms from the Illinois Courts standardized forms portal or the DuPage County Circuit Clerk’s website. Type them or print neatly in black ink, and check the spelling of your proposed new name twice. The judge’s order will read exactly what you wrote.

Filing Electronically

DuPage County requires electronic filing for civil cases, name changes included. The county moved to the statewide EFileIL platform in 2019.⁵ Create an account on EFileIL, upload your completed forms as PDFs, and pay the filing fee. Once the clerk processes the submission, the system issues a case number, courtroom assignment, and hearing date.

The filing fee changes with the court’s fee schedule, so check the current amount on the DuPage County Circuit Clerk’s e-filing page before submitting. If you cannot afford it, submit an Application for Waiver of Court Fees. Illinois law requires the clerk’s office to provide the waiver application to anyone who indicates an inability to pay.⁶

No Newspaper Publication Required

Older guides tell you to publish notice of your name change in a local newspaper for three consecutive weeks. Ignore that. Public Act 103-1063 repealed Section 21-103 of the Code of Civil Procedure as of March 1, 2025, so there is no publication step and no certificate of publication to file.⁷ That change cut what was often the slowest and most expensive part of the process.

Keeping Your File Private

The same 2025 law added Section 21-103.8, which lets you ask the court to seal your name-change file from public view. You file a motion to impound along with a sworn statement that public disclosure would cause hardship or harm your health or safety. Qualifying circumstances listed in the statute include being transgender, an adoptee, a survivor of domestic abuse or gender-based violence, a trafficking survivor, a refugee, a survivor of conversion therapy, or someone granted asylum. Self-attestation is enough; supporting documents are optional.⁸

If disclosing your address could endanger you or reveal a domestic violence shelter location, you can leave your address off the filings and give an alternative service address instead. Even when a file is impounded, the court still reports the name change to the Illinois State Police so criminal history records and offender registrations stay accurate.⁸

The Hearing and Your Signed Order

The hearing takes place at the DuPage County Courthouse in Wheaton and is usually brief. You appear before the judge, confirm your identity under oath, and verify that the petition is accurate. The judge reviews your criminal history disclosures and confirms you meet the residency and eligibility rules. If nothing is amiss and no objections have been filed, the judge signs the Order for Name Change.

That signed order is your legal proof of the new name. After the hearing, order certified copies through the DuPage County Circuit Clerk’s office or its online system. Each certification costs $6.⁹ Get several. The Social Security Administration, the Secretary of State, your bank, your employer, and other agencies may each want one at roughly the same time.

Updating Your Records

The court order has no practical effect until you use it to update the documents you rely on daily. Order matters, because several agencies want to see that others have already been updated.

Social Security First

Start with the Social Security Administration. SSA requires your court order (an original or certified copy, not a photocopy) along with proof of identity such as a driver’s license or U.S. passport. If the name change happened more than two years ago, or if your documents don’t clearly link the old and new names, you may also need an ID in your prior name. All documents must be originals or copies certified by the issuing agency.¹⁰ A replacement card is free. Apply in person at your local SSA office or by mail.

Driver’s License or State ID

After your Social Security record updates, visit an Illinois Secretary of State facility with your certified court order and current ID to get a corrected driver’s license or state ID. The Secretary of State may also accept other name-change documents such as a certified marriage certificate. Do this quickly. Driving with an ID that doesn’t match your legal name can cause problems at traffic stops or when cashing checks.

Everything Else

Once your Social Security card and driver’s license carry the new name, work through the rest:

U.S. passport. Submit Form DS-5504 for corrections within a year of issuance or DS-82 for a renewal, with your certified court order.
Voter registration. Update through your county clerk’s office or online through the Illinois State Board of Elections.
Employer and payroll. Give your employer a copy of the court order and your new Social Security card so W-2 filings match IRS records.
Banks and financial accounts. Each institution has its own process; most want a certified copy of the order and a government-issued photo ID in the new name.
Insurance, utilities, and subscriptions. A certified copy of the order plus your updated driver’s license usually does the job.

Handle the payroll and SSA updates before year-end if you can. If the IRS receives a return under a name that doesn’t match the Social Security number on file, your refund can be delayed.

Changing a Child’s Name

A parent or legal guardian can include a child in their own petition or file a separate petition for the child. The legal standard is tougher for minors: the court must find by clear and convincing evidence that the change serves the child’s best interest, weighing factors such as the wishes of both parents, the child’s own wishes, the child’s relationships at home and school, and the child’s adjustment to the community. The judge may interview the child, with counsel present and a court reporter recording the conversation unless the parties agree otherwise.¹

Both parents generally must consent. If one does not, the petitioning parent sends the petition and hearing notice to the other by certified mail at the current or last known address. When the other parent’s address is entirely unknown, publication may still be required for that notice, which is separate from the repealed adult publication rule. If notifying the other parent could put the child at risk of physical harm or discrimination, the petitioning parent can file a motion to waive that notice.

1
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 735 ILCS 5 21-101 – Proceedings; Parties
2
State of Illinois Office of the Illinois Courts. New Law Amending Name Change Requirements Effective January 1, 2024
3
State of Illinois Office of the Illinois Courts. Name Change
4
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 735 ILCS 5 21-102 – Petition; Update Criminal History Transcript
5
18th Judicial Circuit Court Clerk DuPage County Illinois. DuPage County – E-filing Information
6
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 735 ILCS 5 5-105 – Waiver of Court Fees, Costs, and Charges
7
Illinois General Assembly. Public Act 103-1063
8
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 735 ILCS 5 21-103.8 – Impounding Court File
9
DuPage County Circuit Court Clerk. Order Court Documents Online
10
Social Security Administration. Learn What Documents You Will Need to Get a Social Security Card