Changing your name back in Illinois

Illinois restores a former name through the divorce itself, under 750 ILCS 5/413(c).

‘Unless the person whose marriage is dissolved or declared invalid requests otherwise, the judgment under this Section shall contain a provision authorizing the person to resume the use of his or her former or maiden name, should he or she choose to do so, at any time he or she chooses to do so.’ The same section adds that a person resuming a former or maiden name ‘is not required to file a petition for a change of name under Article XXI of the Code of Civil Procedure’ and ‘is not required to provide notice by publication.’

How much choice the judge has: mandatory – the authorization goes into the judgment by default; the court includes it unless the party affirmatively requests otherwise

Who may ask: either party

Illinois is the most forgiving state in this batch. Because the authorization is written into the judgment by default and is expressly exercisable ‘at any time he or she chooses to do so,’ a person divorced years ago can resume a former or maiden name on the strength of a certified copy of the dissolution judgment. No motion to modify, no new petition, no publication. This only covers a former or maiden name; changing to a brand-new name still requires an Article XXI petition.

Authority: 750 ILCS 5/413(c)

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: 735 ILCS 5/21-101 et seq. (Code of Civil Procedure, Article XXI)
• Court: Circuit Court
• Filing fee: varies by county – see notes (schedule dated Cook County schedule dated 10/20/22)
• Residency: ‘The petitioner shall have resided in this State for 3 months at the time of the name change hearing’ (735 ILCS 5/21-101, as amended by P.A. 103-1063, eff. 3-1-25). This is a reduction from the previous longer residency requirement.
• Publication: no – and this is a recent change that most online guidance has not caught up with. Public Act 103-1063, effective March 1, 2025, repealed 735 ILCS 5/21-103, the newspaper publication section (‘735 ILCS 5/21-103 rep.’). The Illinois Supreme Court’s statewide standardized adult name-change form suite was reissued in 03/2025 and no longer contains a publication notice form; it contains a Request for Name Change, an Order for Name Change, and a Motion/Order to Impound. SAFETY EXEMPTION: moot as to publication, but Illinois went further – the same Act added 735 ILCS 5/21-103.8, which lets a petitioner move to impound the court file on a sworn statement that ‘public disclosure would be a hardship and have a negative impact on the person’s health or safety,’ expressly naming survivors of abuse, trafficking survivors, transgender people, adoptees, refugees, people with special immigrant status, conversion therapy survivors, and asylees. Addresses may be omitted from filed documents where disclosure poses a risk to the petitioner or their household. Even with an impounded file, the name change is still reported to the Illinois State Police for criminal history purposes.
• Background check: No fingerprinting and no criminal history check is imposed on the petitioner. But 735 ILCS 5/21-101 does two criminal-record-adjacent things: (1) it bars petitions during the registration period from people required to register under the sex offender, violent offender against youth, or arsonist registration acts, with narrow exceptions for marriage, religious belief, trafficking-victim status, and gender identity; and (2) it bars a person convicted of a felony from petitioning while the sentence is not yet completed ‘unless that person is pardoned.’ Every name change order must be forwarded to the Illinois State Police to update criminal records under both the new and former names.

Official forms

• Name Change forms suite (Illinois Supreme Court statewide standardized forms, approved 03/2025)
• How to Change your Name – instructions (NC-A)
• Request for Name Change (NC-A)
• Order for Name Change (NC-A)

• Restoration in the divorce: https://www.ilga.gov/documents/legislation/ilcs/documents/075000050K413.htm
• Separate name-change petition: https://ilga.gov/legislation/PublicActs/View/103-1063
• Filing fee: https://services.cookcountyclerkofcourt.org/forms/Forms/pdf_files/CCCO0618.pdf

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.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/fulltext.asp?DocName=073500050K21-103 (404 – section repealed effective 3-1-25); https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs4.asp?DocName=073500050HArt.+XXI… (404 – legacy ILGA URLs retired in site redesign); https://ilcourtsaudio.blob.core.windows.net/…/NC-A%20Instructions.pdf (we could not open it, but it is listed with the forms so you can find it)

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