The rest of what we have written about Alaska. Every figure is quoted from Alaska’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.
Changing your name back in Alaska
Whether you can get your former name back in the divorce itself — and what it costs in Alaska if you miss that moment.
See a different stateAlaska
Social Security, the passport, and the order to do them in are identical in all fifty states and are on the main name-change page. This page is the part that is Alaska-specific.
The short version5 points · tap one to jump to it
- Restoring your name in the divorce — Alaska restores a former name through the divorce itself, under AS 25.24.165 (Change of name in divorce or annulment); for dissolutions also AS 25.24.230(c)(3) and (f); procedure under Alaska Civil Rule 84.
- If the decree is already final — Asking in the divorce costs nothing extra.
- The separate name-change petition — This is the route if the divorce route is closed to you, or if you want a name that is not a former one.
- What catches people out in Alaska — Alaska has a real, named safety exemption.
- Every state
In this subject 6
Restoring your name in the divorce
The short version5 points · tap one to jump to it
- Restoring your name in the divorce — Alaska restores a former name through the divorce itself, under AS 25.24.165 (Change of name in divorce or annulment); for dissolutions also AS 25.24.230(c)(3) and (f); procedure under Alaska Civil Rule 84.
- If the decree is already final — Asking in the divorce costs nothing extra.
- The separate name-change petition — This is the route if the divorce route is closed to you, or if you want a name that is not a former one.
- What catches people out in Alaska — Alaska has a real, named safety exemption.
- Every state
In this subject 6
Alaska restores a former name through the divorce itself, under AS 25.24.165 (Change of name in divorce or annulment); for dissolutions also AS 25.24.230(c)(3) and (f); procedure under Alaska Civil Rule 84.
Alaska Court System: ‘AS 25.24.165 describes the procedure for changing a person’s name in a divorce or dissolution of marriage.’ The court’s own request form (DR-956/DR-955) states the request as: ‘I ask the court to restore my name to a name I had before this marriage.’ Exact statutory wording we could not read – see blocked sources.
Who may ask: the party changing the name
The statutory restoration in Alaska has to be requested while the case is open. It is still much the cheapest moment to do it. But there is a way back afterwards, set out in the next section.
If the decree is already final
This is the single most important Alaska rule for divorced petitioners, and the court says it flatly on the form: ‘If the court already issued the decree of divorce, you may not use this form or change your name as part of the divorce case.’ (DR-956; DR-955 says the same for dissolutions.) Once the decree is entered the divorce case is closed to name relief and you must open a brand-new change-of-name case using form CIV-700 – a $200 filing fee, four weeks of posted public notice, and a court hearing that cannot be held sooner than 40 days out. Asking in the divorce costs nothing extra.
Authority: AS 09.55.010 (change of name, superior court); Alaska Civil Rule 84
The separate name-change petition
This is the route if the divorce route is closed to you, or if you want a name that is not a former one.
- Statute: AS 09.55.010; Alaska Civil Rule 84
- Court: Superior Court
- Filing fee: $200.00
- Publication: Notice is required but it is court-website posting rather than paid newspaper advertising by default. Per CIV-699 (Instructions for Adult Change of Name), the court automatically posts notice of the requested name change on the Alaska Court System’s legal notice website for four consecutive weeks, unless the posting is waived. The court may additionally order publication in a newspaper in a particular case.
- Background check: No fingerprinting or criminal history check appears in the adult change-of-name instructions (CIV-699). Alaska instead handles criminal-justice status through notice: a petitioner who has active charges, is incarcerated, is on probation or parole, or is a registered sex offender must give notice to the prosecuting authority, the probation officer, and/or the Department of Public Safety (this is what forms DR-957 and the parallel CIV forms are for).
- Hearing: required
Official forms
- CIV-699 – Instructions for Adult Change of Name
- CIV-700 – Petition for Change of Name (adult)
- CIV-698 – Adult Change of Name packet (complete)
- CIV-708 – Request to keep a change-of-name case confidential / unpublished (safety)
- DR-956 – Request to change name in a divorce case
- DR-955 – Request to change name in a dissolution case
- DR-957 – Notice of Request to Restore Name in Dissolution or Divorce Case
What catches people out in Alaska
Alaska has a real, named safety exemption. CIV-699 says an applicant who has ‘personal safety concerns’ may ask to waive the public posting, and form CIV-708 is the dedicated request to have the case kept confidential, sealed, or marked ‘Not Published’ on the public CourtView docket. The court may rule on the paperwork alone or set a hearing. This is one of the better-designed survivor protections among the states surveyed.
Alaska separates ‘change of name in divorce’ (AS 25.24.165) from the general adult name change (AS 09.55.010) – two different statutes, two different procedures, two different costs.
Whether the court must grant the request is not stated. The court’s forms and FAQ do not say whether restoring a name on request in a divorce is mandatory or discretionary, and we could not read the statutory text on an official site.
Sources for this page
- Restoration in the divorce: https://public.courts.alaska.gov/web/forms/docs/dr-956.pdf
- Restoring it after the decree: https://public.courts.alaska.gov/web/forms/docs/dr-955.pdf
- Separate name-change petition: https://public.courts.alaska.gov/web/forms/docs/civ-699.pdf
- Filing fee: https://courts.alaska.gov/main/faq.htm
Sources we could not reach when this page was built, listed so you know what was not checked rather than assuming it was: https://www.akleg.gov/basis/statutes.asp – Alaska Legislature statute portal returns only a table of contents; we could not retrieve the section text for AS 25.24.165 and AS 09.55.010, so those sections are cited (on the authority of the Alaska Court System’s own forms and FAQ) but not quoted verbatim
Found an error? Tell us — it goes on the corrections page with the date and how long it was live.