How to legally change your last name?

When it is not associated with a marriage or divorce? Do you just go file a petition with the local court?

How to legally change your last name?
Let me know which state you dwell in.





Most states require you fill out a 30 page application, then you file it with the clerk (usually at the Family Courts), but before the clerk can put it in a nice little file for you in the back, she must examine the application and see if you fill out everything correctly. Then she will tell you to go down to the notary and have it notarized. After that, you bring it back, she files it, and then you have to post an ad in the paper asking if anyone objects to the name change. If not, you go back to the court house and then the judge will review the paperwork.





This usually takes a month. Three weeks for the ad, and 1 week after the ad is over and then the judge will review it.





Go to your states local family court house and pick up the application or you can download it from their website
Reply:When applying for a marriage license ask the clerk what steps to be taken in your state. In a divorce, simply ask for "other relief" in the form of your maiden name being restored to Smith.