Yep.

I don't necessarily remember it being a big ordeal changing my last name after getting married. I literally brought the recommended documents to the social security office and had to wait about 20 minutes due to the volume of people.

However, requesting Petition for Change of Name Forms can be found at Name Change Link and it says the filing fee is $187.50 with a $10 fee for service of a child name change.

Did you submit a petition to change yours?

I think you want https://www.courts.mo.gov/page.jsp?id=3834#Adult

Thank you. It's weird that the link the greencountycourts.org gives takes you to a website to defend yourself?

I have a friend who wants to change their first name but not their last so I'm also interested to hear this.

It's been a bit, but all I had to do was fill out the paperwork, go in front of a judge, pay the fee, and wait a bit for the required publications to run and then I got the court order saying it was official. It honestly was easier to get the name changed than it was to update everyone that needed it. I think I ended up needing like 5 official copies to send to various places.

My judge did ask why I was changing my name but did not have any issues that it was because I was trans, if that is anyone's concern. They do it to make sure you are not trying to hide from the law or bill collectors.

Here is the form for an adult name change.

If you remember, were you given a date to go in front of the judge, or did they give you any instructions for what to do after you submitted your petition?

My step daughter changed her name. We paid a lawyer $225 to handle it all.

Did she need to appear in court after everything was submitted?

It's been about seven years so this may be outdated, I had to talk to the family court clerk and file the paperwork. They then set the date to go in front of the judge and back then they also did the putting the name change in the publication, but I think that has since changed.

On Greene county circuit Clerk's website under the name change section, they list their number, I would call them for the most up-to-date info on the process.

Nope. Just had to sign some stuff at the lawyers office.

Do you know about how long the process took, from submitting the documents with the lawyer to hearing about the approval?

About five months to get the final documents but that was because my daughter too her time getting tot he social security office.

I also went through a lawyer about two years ago to legally change first and last. I did not (thank Jesus lol) have to appear in front of a judge. It costs more to go through a lawyer but I was too anxious about all of the documents that needed to be submitted etc. So I decided to go through a lawyer so they could handle that part of it for me. Good luck! I'll echo someone else in saying that it was much harder to change everything through everyone else than to actually get the name change itself!

You usually don’t have to actually appear in court - usually you’re assigned a court date but the judge typically signs off on it and you don’t have to actually appear. Then you take your court order and publish, a lot easier than I was expecting honestly

That’s a link to the State of Missouri’s page on representing yourself. The clerks can’t give you any advice on anything, but the state does run a program on how to file certain common actions, like divorces and name changes.

No. I just have a lot of experience with the paperwork.

Same process as total name change.

There’s probably a self represent form of the Missouri website. Filing fee is $137 or so.

It’s immediate if you file the form yourself. Typically takes a few days to process.

Should I expect a hearing or anything? I haven't been able to find any good information for what to expect after filing all of the required forms.

I recently (January '22) changed my first and middle name, and it was both a lot easier than I thought...and a bit more tedious than expected.

The easier part was getting the initial document from the judge stating my name was legally changed. All I had to do was go in, write out a statement (they said they weren't doing in-person court hearing bcuz COVID), and pay the fee ($200). Once I got that court order, I could go elsewhere.

The more tedious bit came later. The Social Security office was not open for in-person, only over the phone, and that took an additional two-ish weeks to get my new card; I had to physically go in and alter my tax records for the name change to take; and I had to take my spouse with me to our bank just to change my name on our acct.

Just go in prepped to do legwork but lemme tell ya: it's worth it. 😋

This is very similar to my experience getting my name changed in 2021! No court appearance necessary for me

No hearing unless there’s problems with the paperwork.

Okay, thank you! I've heard that, in Greene county, the court takes care of the publication stuff for you, do you know if this is true?

It’s included in your filing fee.

You might be able to get the fee waived by filling out an In Forma Pauperis application.

Here is a link directly to the form.

I don't see people bring that up often, so I'm not sure if it's common knowledge. I'm also not sure what the state considers "too poor" to pay for a name change, but it's worth a shot to save the money imo

Had name changed in 2019, around age 22. Just filled out a form, paid the fee, had to go to court after it was processed where a judge just asked me the same questions on the form (are you doing this to avoid debts, etc) and confirm the name was right. I think it all happened within the span of 2 weeks, but this was pre-COVID so I don't know if things are slower now.

Allegedly you had to have it run in the paper for a couple weeks, but I don't know if I was supposed to submit this or they were, but I wasn't involved with it, so I don't know if it actually happened. If you're doing the name change to avoid an abusive situation, the form says they can waive this part.