Name Change - Self Help

The following information will take you through the steps necessary to legally change a name. To access any of the necessary forms, click on the form number. To access any of the topics, click on the topics.

Statutes and Court Rules
Using Court Forms
How to Begin
Getting Fingerprinted
Serving the Petition and Publishing Notice
The Hearing
Getting the Order
Serving the Order

Statute and Court Rules

Using Court Forms

When using forms, you are required to provide the total number of copies for use by the court, the parties, and any other person or organization that must receive the form. See the upper-right hand corner of each form to determine the mandatory number of copies and who must receive those copies. When completing a form on-line, you must print the number of copies you will need for filing with the court and service on the parties. Otherwise, you will have to photocopy the proper number of copies before filing the form with the court. If you do not provide the court with the correct number of copies, the court might reject the form for nonconformance under the authority of Michigan Court Rule 8.119(C). Unless specifically required by court rule or statute, the court is not responsible for making copies of forms for you.

Select the form you need from the list below. Instructions for completing and processing a form are provided with each form and can be read online. Make sure you read all the instructions and follow them carefully.

Petition to Change Name, PC 51
Order Following Hearing on Petition to Change Name, PC 52

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How to Begin

To start a proceeding to change your name, the name of your child, or your family's last name, you (the petitioner) must complete the Petition to Change Name, form PC 51, and file it with the circuit court in the county where you live. If you are requesting the name change of a minor who is less than 14 years old, you must file the petition where the child lives. The cost of filing your petition is $150.00.

Conditions

To change the name of an adult, a minor who is 14 years or older, or the name of a family, you (the petitioner) must be a resident of the county for at least one year. Your petition must explain the reasons for your request and that the name change is not being sought with a fraudulent intent. If you have a criminal record, you are presumed to be seeking a name change with fraudulent intent and the change will not be ordered unless you can prove that your request is not for fraudulent purposes.

The written consent to change the name of a child 14 years of age or older, signed by the child in the presence of the court, must be filed with the court before an order changing the name of the child will be entered.

To change the name of a child who is less than 14 years old, both legal parents must agree to the proposed name change. If both parents do not consent, the custodial parent must prove to the court that the noncustodial parent has not provided regular or substantial support for the child, or has not substantially complied with a court order for support, for 2 years before the filing of the petition, and that the noncustodial parent has substantially failed to contact or visit the child for 2 years before the filing of the petition. The noncustodial parent must be given legal notice of the hearing and an opportunity to object to the proposed name change. The legal parents' rights are not terminated by a name change.

The name of a child under 14 years of age may not be changed unless he or she is the natural or adopted child of the petitioner and unless consent is obtained from the mother and father jointly, from the surviving parent if one parent is deceased, or from one of the child's parents if there is only one legal parent available to give consent.

If the court considers a child to be of sufficient age to express a preference, the court will ask a child under 14 years of age about the change in his or her name and will consider the child's wishes.

See other conditions in MCL 711.1 >>.

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Getting Fingerprinted

If you are 22 years of age or older and petitioning to have your name changed, you must have 2 complete sets of your fingerprints taken at a local police agency. There is a fee for this. Follow the instructions provided with the Petition to Change Name, form PC 51. The fingerprints, along with a copy of the petition and the required processing fees, will be forwarded to the Michigan Department of State Police. The Department will compare those fingerprints with its records and will forward a complete set of fingerprints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for a comparison with the records available to that agency. The Department will then report to the court any information concerning any pending charges against you or a record of conviction. If there are no pending charges against you and there is no record of conviction against you, the Department will destroy its copy of your fingerprints. The court will not act upon your petition for a name change until the Department makes its report to the court.

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Serving the Petition and Publishing Notice

The court will set a date, time, and place for the hearing on the petition. Notice of the hearing on a petition to change the name of a child must be served on a noncustodial parent. You can use the Notice of Hearing, form PC 562. Notice of any petition to change name must also be published. The notice must contain the proposed name and the time, date, and place of the hearing on the petition. See MCR 3.613 for details. You can use the Publication of Notice of Hearing, form PC 563.

If there is good cause (reason), the court may order that no publication of the proceeding take place and that the record of the proceeding be confidential. Good cause is defined in MCL 711.1.

The court may permit an individual having the same name, or a name similar to the one the petitioner is seeking, to intervene in the proceeding for the purpose of showing fraudulent intent.

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The Hearing

You must attend the hearing on the date and at the place and time stated in the notice of hearing. See general information about hearings >>.

Note: If the petitioner is 22 years of age or older, the hearing will not be scheduled until the court receives the report from the Michigan Department of State Police. In that case, service of the petition and publication of the notice cannot occur until the hearing is actually scheduled.

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Getting the Order

After the hearing, the court will prepare the order. You are required to pay a $10.00 fee to the court to enter the order. In addition, if you want a certified copy of the order, you must pay another $10.00 fee.

If the court enters an order to change the name of an individual and you want to change that name on the original birth certificate, you must file a copy of the order with the State Registrar at the Vital Records Office of the Department of Community Health. See information about applying to correct a birth record >>.

If the court enters an order to change the name of an individual who has a criminal record, the court will forward the order to the Michigan State Police and other agencies as required by law. See MCL 711.1 for details.

In cases where the court orders that name change records are to be confidential and that no publication is to take place, records will be maintained in a sealed envelope marked confidential and placed in a private file. Only the original petitioner has access to the confidential file unless otherwise ordered by the court. See MCL 711.3 and MCR 3.613(E) for details.

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Serving the Order

Unless the court ordered that the records are to be confidential, the order must be served on a noncustodial parent as required by MCR 2.602(1). No other service is required.

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