Idaho Name Change Requirements

General Summary of Name Change Laws

The Courts are often willing to accept name changes for almost any legitimate reason. However, the granting of an application for change of name is discretionary with the Court. For an order/decree/judgment of name change to be granted, the Court must find compliance with the requirements of notice and the requirements for the allegations in the application. The Court must also find good and sufficient reason for the change, find the change consistent with the public interest and if the change of name is for a minor child, find that the change is in the best interests of the minor child.

You cannot change your/one's name for a fraudulent purpose, such as to avoid debts, you cannot change to a name that could affect the rights of another person, such as a celebrity, you cannot use a curse word, racial slur, obscene and/or an offensive word as part of your/one's name and you cannot change to a name that would cause deliberate confusion (for example, a name with punctuation and/or a number in it).

IMPORTANT NOTE: For name change actions, which involve a minor, our materials are strictly for use if both parents consent to the name change. If one parent does not consent, our materials are not appropriate. The applicant may wish to contact a local lawyer, bar association, etc.

Again, please remember, our name change materials are designed to cover simple, uncontested name changes ONLY.

General Summary of Name Change Laws in Idaho for an Adult

In Idaho, an adult (see below for a detailed definition of the age of majority), who wishes, for good cause shown, to change their name, by court order, must file their Petition for Name Change with the District Court in the jurisdiction in which (s)he (the Petitioner) resides.

Following is the definition of age of majority, as taken directly from the Idaho Statutes, Title 32 Domestic Relations, Chapter 1 Persons, §32-101, Minors defined:

Minors are:

Males under eighteen (18) years of age.
Females under eighteen (18) years of age.
Provided, that any male or any female who has been married shall be competent to enter a contract, mortgage, deed of trust, bill of sale and conveyance, and sue or be sued thereon.

The Petition includes personal information as required by statute, including the Petitioner's present name, residence, place of birth, proposed new name, the reason(s) for the request for change of name, etc. The Petition must be verified by an Affidavit.

After filing a Petition and paying the required filing fee for such, the Court will set the Petition for a hearing (at least six (6) weeks later). At this time, the Court will also issue the Notice of Hearing. Thereafter the Petitioner shall send the Notice of Hearing, along with the included sample letter to the newspaper, to the newspaper (s)he selected, which should be one of the official legal newspapers (of general circulation) for the county where (s)he resides. The Petitioner must select a newspaper which publishes legal notices at least once a week. The Notice must be published once a week for four (4) successive weeks. Proof must be made of such publication before the Petition can be considered.

After proof to the court of publication of the Notice required is made, if no objection is filed, the court shall proceed at chambers at such date as the court shall fix to hear and determine all matters raised by the Petition and to render final judgment or decree thereon. Typically, the court hearing will be informal and heard in a minimum amount of time by a Judge. At the time of the hearing, the Court will hear any reasonable objections to the requested relief, may question the Petitioner as to the reasons for the requested name change and consider any questions raised as to the Petitioner's intent.

If, from the Petition, with a hearing, it appears to the court that the Petitioner is entitled to the requested relief, the court will issue an Order allowing the requested name change. Once the order is signed, your name is legally changed.

Idaho Name Change Forms

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Adult Name Change

$29.95

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