Legal Question in Criminal Law in Florida

Re: Change of Last Name

There are two ways in which a person can change his name: Common law and statutory. The common law way is to simply begin using a different name. It is completely legal, and no one can stop you. The statutory way is to go through the procedures specified in statute and obtain, at the end of those procedures, a court order authorizing the change.

Anyone can change his name using the common law method. That includes a person who has served a sentence. As for statutory, that would depend on the particular jurisdiction. It would have to be researched on a state by state basis. In that regard, it may be possible to get the statutory name change even while the sentence was being served. Again, it would be necessary to check the laws of the particular jurisdiction in question.