Legal Question in Family Law in Illinois

You can legally change your name without going to court.

By the common law, applicable here in Illinois, every person is free not only to assume any surname he or she pleases, but also to change it at any time. In Reinken v. Reinken (1933), 351 Ill. 409, 413, 184 N.E. 639, our supreme court said:

"At common law, and in the absence of statutory restriction, an individual may lawfully change his name without resort to any legal proceedings, and for all purposes the name thus assumed will constitute his legal name just as much as if he had borne it from birth. (45 Corpus Juris, 381.) Our 'act to revise the law in relation to names' [citation] permits an individual to apply to the circuit court for the entry of an order changing his name. These statutory provisions are, however, not exclusive but are merely permissive, and they do not abrogate the common law right of the individual to change his name without application to the courts."

That mean that your ex-wife may have any name she wants, any time she wants, and change it as often as she wants, all without going to court. If she wants to go to court to have her name changed, she can do that too. There is nothing you can do about it.