Legal Question in Family Law in Idaho

Re: Change of birth given name

If you are an adult and your state follows the common law, you can change your name merely by

consistently using a new name. Just as a woman changes her name without a court order when she

gets married, at common law, anybody can change their name.

Alan Pransky

Law Office of Alan J. Pransky

20 Eastbrook Road

Re: Change of birth given name

I'm licensed in Tennessee, not Idaho, and this area of the law will vary from state to state, but in MOST states (and this includes Tennessee), you can change your name without ever going to court. (I changed my name without going to court.) You simply let everyone know what name you want used and begin using it, so long as you are not doing so in order to avoid creditors or criminal prosecution.

Now, granted, doing it without a court order may mean you will have to fight petty bureacrats for a while until you get official records changed, but it can be done.

Otherwise, you generally file a petition in the proper local court asking the court to formally change your name, set out the reasons, have a very informal hearing before a judge, ususally in chambers and not in open court, and the judge orders the name change.... generally speaking if you are going to go the court route, you are better off using an attorney, since most court clerks and judges have little interest in helping the person representing himself or herself.

Jes Beard

Jes Beard, Attorney at Law

737 Market St., Suite 601