Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

Re: Name Change via Dissolution

Yes, you can change your name when you get divorced. It's my experience that the court will allow you to change your last (married) name, back to a name you used before, but not to pick a new name at random.

For picking a new name at random, you go to district court, and swear that you are not re-naming yourself with any intent to defraud your creditors, and that court will formally allow you to change your name in a separate (non-dissolution) proceeding. Hope this helps. Powell

Re: Name Change via Dissolution

RCW 26.09.150 provides that upon request of a party whose marriage is dissolved or declared invalid that the court has to allow you to change a name to a previous names or may exercise judgment in allowing the party to have their name changed to some other name. I've never had a case where somebody wanted to change their name to something other than a previous name, so I don't know how much a court would care, and if it is an agreed resolution, I am not sure that the court will have enough information to even allow for an effective questioning of why a person is changing their name.