Illinois

• In 2024, the Illinois Supreme Court published an extremely informative and easy-to-use document called "How To Change Your Name - Adult Name Change". 

• This document of official instructions answers so many questions, and because it comes directly from the Illinois Supreme Court, you can be confident that it is the most accurate information available.

• We highly recommend that you read (or at least skim) every page of this document before beginning this process.

Here is the link where to a document with Official Instructions from the State of Illinois about How to Request a Fee Waiver. Click Here.

• Enter the county you are submitting, current legal name, and case number, if given to you by the clerk. The rest will be completed by the judge. 

• This document is a form that the judge will use to grant or deny the name change. Essentially you would be bringing this document to make the judge's life easier instead of them printing it off. 

Here is the link where the form can be found, completed, and printed before filing as pro se documents with the court. Click Here.

This will be considered a new court case, so you will not put a case number at the top. The clerk will assign a new one. 

1. You do NOT need to publish your legal name change if you are the victim of a crime based on:

   1. You believe that notice or publication will put the person whose name would be changed at risk of physical harm or discrimination

      1. Many queer people face discrimination for being who they are. If this pertains to one, they can protect themselves by not publishing

   2. You have or have previously been granted a protective order.

If you are publishing in either Madison or St. Clair County, there main legal newspaper for both is Belleville News-Democrat - use: https://bnd.column.us/place/

Here is the link where the form can be found, completed, and printed before filing as pro se documents with the court. Click Here.

• In Illinois, if you receive government benefits like SSI or SNAP, you qualify for the waiver of fees. 

• If you are not on government benefits, you may still qualify.

Here is the link where to a document with Official Instructions from the State of Illinois about How to Request a Fee Waiver. Click Here.

• Enter the county you are submitting, name, and case number given to you by the clerk. The rest will be done by the judge. 

• This document is a form that the judge will use to confirm or deny the financials of the case. Essentially you would be bringing this document to make the judge's life easier instead of them printing it off. 

Here is the link where the form can be found, completed, and printed before filing as pro se documents with the court. Click Here.

YAY! You filled out all the forms. Now, you can go to the county circuit court and get it done. Once they are turned in, the clerk will give you a court date to appear for a judge to grant the name change. The publishing happens before the court date for Illinois. After that, you can appear in court.

You may also eFile online in the state of Illinois. The eFile will give you the court date also. 

If you eFile, the courts in Illinois recommend you type everything out and format in the following way: any of these forms, you will need to "flatten" the form so it cannot be changed after you complete it. You flatten the form in one of two ways:

1. If you used Adobe Acrobat or Reader to complete your downloaded form (recommended), go to the "File" menu at the top, select "print", and choose "Adobe PDF" or "Print to PDF" from the dropdown menu. You will be told to save the form. This saved form will be "flattened" and you can e-file it.

2. If you did not use Adobe Acrobat or Reader, your computer will select a software that will allow you to fill out the forms. You will need to look for a "Save as PDF" option. Depending on the software you use, this option may be found in the print dialog box under your "Print" menu option.

3. Before e-filing any "flattened" form, be sure to open the file to make sure that it looks is filled out.

After everything comes back, proceed to the "After the Courts" tab to look at getting other documents changed over. 

Some notes about changing your name on your Illinois state ID or Drivers License:

• A name change requires you to apply for a corrected driver license/state ID.

• A corrected license/state ID involves a change to the information on the original license/ state ID, such as name or address. To obtain a corrected license/state ID, you must visit a Secretary of State facility to turn in your incorrect license/state ID and provide acceptable identification.

• An applicant applying for either a duplicate or corrected driver's license or ID card must present:

  • One document that satisfies Group A, and one document from Group D if requesting an address change.

  • An applicant who requests a change in name, date of birth, Social Security number or gender must provide identification to link the change from the previous information to the new information