How to Fill Out and File the Georgia Name Change Petition

To file a Georgia name change petition, you submit a verified Petition for Change of Name to the Clerk of Superior Court in the county where you live, publish a notice in the county’s legal newspaper once a week for four weeks, wait at least 30 days from the filing date, and attend a brief hearing where a judge signs the final order. From filing to final order usually runs five to seven weeks. You can do it yourself without a lawyer, but the deadlines are strict: you have only seven days after filing to start the newspaper notice, and the court cannot grant the change until 30 days have passed.¹

What to Gather Before You File

Pull everything together before you sit down with the form so you can finish it in one pass:

A valid Georgia driver’s license or state ID showing your current legal name.²
The county and state where you were born, and your year of birth.
Your reason for the change. Marriage, divorce, personal preference, cultural or religious reasons, and gender identity are all commonly accepted. Georgia law requires you to state the reasons “fully and particularly,” so plan to write at least a sentence or two.¹
Your criminal history for fraud, forgery, and violent offenses. The petition asks whether you have any convictions or pending charges in those categories. A yes answer does not automatically disqualify you, but a false answer can sink the petition.³
Money for two separate fees: the court filing fee and the newspaper publication fee.

The petition form itself comes from the Clerk of Superior Court in your county. Many judicial circuits publish self-help packets online with the forms included. Forms differ a bit between counties, so use the version from your own clerk rather than one from a neighboring county.²

Filling Out the Petition

A standard Georgia adult petition asks for your current legal name as it appears on your ID, your residence address and county, the county, state, and year of your birth, your proposed new name written out in full, and your reasons for the change.³ It also includes the criminal history disclosure described above. Leave the “Civil Action File No.” line blank; the clerk fills that in at the counter.

Check every spelling. A transposed letter in the proposed new name can carry all the way through to the final order, and fixing it later is harder than catching it now.

Georgia requires the petition to be verified, meaning you sign a sworn statement that the contents are true.¹ Do not sign the verification page until you are in front of a notary. If the notary does not personally witness your signature, the verification is invalid.³ Many banks, UPS Store locations, and some clerk’s offices offer notary services.

Filing with the Superior Court

Take the completed, notarized petition to the Clerk of Superior Court in the county where you live. Many Georgia Superior Courts also accept electronic filing, though availability and whether e-filing is required varies by court.⁴ Call your clerk’s office or check its website before you go.

You pay the filing fee at submission. The base civil clerk fee under O.C.G.A. § 15-6-77 is $58, with additional statutory surcharges on top; the combined total commonly lands around $200 to $250 depending on the county.⁵ Ask your clerk for the exact amount; do not assume one county’s fee applies elsewhere.

If you cannot afford the fee, you can file an Affidavit of Indigency with proof of income, bank statements, and monthly expenses. The judge may waive the fee, reduce it, or deny the request.⁵

When the clerk accepts the petition, you get a stamped copy and a civil action file number. Write that number down. You will need it for the newspaper and for every document you file afterward.

The Seven-Day Publication Deadline

This is where most people stumble. Within seven days of filing, you must get the first newspaper notice started.¹ The notice runs once a week for four consecutive weeks in your county’s legal organ, the newspaper officially designated for legal advertisements. The clerk can tell you which paper that is.

The notice has to include your name as petitioner, the name of the person whose name is changing (if different), the new name you want, the court the petition is pending in, the date you filed, and a statement that any interested or affected party may appear and file objections.

Call the newspaper right after you leave the clerk’s office. Ask for a quote; publication fees vary and are separate from the court filing fee. Once the four weeks of publication are done, the paper issues a Publisher’s Affidavit as proof.⁶ File that affidavit with the clerk. Without it, the court will not schedule your hearing.²

Objections and the 30-Day Wait

The point of the published notice is to let anyone with a legitimate interest object. During the notice period, any affected party can file a written objection with the court. Objections to adult name changes are rare but do happen, more often where shared children or outstanding debts are involved.

If someone objects, the court holds a hearing where both sides can be heard, and the judge weighs the objection against your reasons. If no objection is filed and 30 days have passed since you filed the petition, the court can move to the hearing.³

The Hearing

Once the 30 days have passed and the Publisher’s Affidavit is on file, you can get a hearing date. Some courts set it automatically; others require you to contact the judge’s chambers or the clerk.²

Bring your photo ID, a copy of the filed petition, the Publisher’s Affidavit if you have not already filed it, and anything else the clerk asked you to bring. Witnesses are not required.

The hearing is short. The judge is checking that notice was properly published, that your reasons are legitimate, and that the change is not aimed at fraud or trading on someone else’s identity. Changing your name to a celebrity’s name to exploit their reputation can be denied. So can a name the court considers obscene. If the judge approves, they sign a Final Order Changing Name, and that order is the official record of your new legal identity.⁷

After the Order Is Signed

Get certified copies of the final order from the clerk before you leave the courthouse. You will hand one to every agency that updates your identity records, and the fee for extra copies is small compared to the delay of mailing a single copy from one agency to the next. Four or five is a reasonable starting number.

Two updates matter most, and the order matters:

Social Security first. Request a replacement card with your new name through the Social Security Administration, showing your certified court order and proof of identity. Many later updates expect a Social Security record that already matches your new name.⁸
Georgia driver’s license or state ID within 60 days. You have 60 days after the court order to update your name at the Department of Driver Services, and this has to be done in person at a DDS Customer Service Center.⁹

From there, work through banks, employers, insurance, voter registration, the passport agency, and any professional licenses. Each has its own paperwork, but the certified court order is the document every one of them needs to see.

If the Name Change Is for a Minor Child

The Superior Court process is the same, with one major addition. Under O.C.G.A. § 19-12-1(e), the written consent of both living parents must be filed with the petition.¹ If both parents are deceased or have abandoned the child, the guardian’s written consent is required instead. Consent is not required from a parent who is deceased, has abandoned the child, or has not contributed to the child’s support for at least five consecutive years before filing. A parent whose consent is not required must still be formally served with the petition, usually through the sheriff, certified mail, or publication if they cannot be located.¹⁰ For minors, the judge also weighs whether the change serves the child’s best interests.

If You Are a Victim of Family Violence or Human Trafficking

Georgia law provides a separate track. Under O.C.G.A. § 19-12-1(c), a petitioner who is a victim of family violence or human trafficking can ask the court to file the petition under seal. If the court finds you qualify, the judge can waive the newspaper publication requirement entirely and proceed to a hearing without public notice. The standard process effectively broadcasts your old name, new name, and county in the legal paper, which can put a survivor in danger. If the court finds the petitioner does not qualify as a victim, the ordinary publication and notice requirements apply before the petition can be heard.¹

1
Justia. Georgia Code 19-12-1 – Petition for Name Change; Request by Victim of Family Violence or Human Trafficking; Notice of Filing; Consent of Minors Parents or Guardian
2
Georgia.gov. Apply for a Name Change
3
Southern Judicial Circuit. Instruction Sheet for Changing an Adults Name
4
Georgia Courts. E-File Court Records
5
Justia. Georgia Code 15-6-77 – Fees
6
Pataula Judicial Circuit. Instructions for Name Change of Adult
7
Fulton County Superior Court. Final Order Changing Name of Adult
8
Social Security Administration. Change Name with Social Security
9
Georgia Department of Driver Services. Section 4 Continued
10
Hall County Clerk of Court. Name Change (Minor) Packet