Changing your name back in Iowa

Whether you can get your former name back in the divorce itself — and what it costs in Iowa if you miss that moment.

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The federal half is the same everywhere

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 Iowa-specific.

Restore it in the divorceYesIowa Code § 598.37
After the decree is finalYes separate statutory name-change petition
Newspaper publicationNot required no newspaper publication requirement. Chapter 674 does not contain one. What it requires…
Background checkNo No fingerprinting or criminal history check appears in chapter 674. Iowa Code § 674.1…
Separate petition fee$195.00Confirmed from an official schedule.
CourtDistrict Court File in the district court where the applicant resides (Iowa Code § 674.2). The petition…

Restoring your name in the divorce

Iowa restores a former name through the divorce itself, under Iowa Code § 598.37.

‘Either party to a marriage may request as a part of the decree of dissolution or decree of annulment a change in the person’s name to either the name appearing on the person’s birth certificate or to the name the person had immediately prior to the marriage.’ The section adds that any other name change request must proceed under Iowa Code chapter 674.

How much choice the judge has: not stated in the text – § 598.37 frames it as a request made ‘as a part of the decree’; no standard for refusal appears in the section

Who may ask: either party

Ask in the divorce — but missing it is not fatal

The statutory restoration in Iowa 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

Section 598.37 ties the restoration to the decree itself (‘as a part of the decree of dissolution’), so once the decree is entered without it, the chapter 674 petition is the route. Iowa softens this in one respect that matters: Iowa Code § 674.13 says ‘A person shall not change the person’s name more than once under this chapter unless just cause is shown’ – and it expressly excepts a name change made in a marriage dissolution decree, so a decree restoration does not burn your one chapter 674 change.

Authority: Iowa Code ch. 674

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: Iowa Code ch. 674 (§ 674.1 authorization; § 674.2 petition contents and venue; § 674.4 timing; § 674.6 notice and consent; § 674.13 once-only rule)
  • Court: District Court
  • Filing fee: $195.00
  • Residency: File in the district court where the applicant resides (Iowa Code § 674.2). The petition must recite the applicant’s residency history for the preceding five years. No minimum duration of Iowa residency was located.
  • Publication: no newspaper publication requirement. Chapter 674 does not contain one. What it requires instead is targeted notice: the clerk files a copy of the petition with the state registrar of vital statistics, and under Iowa Code § 674.6, if the petitioner is married, ‘the petitioner must give legal notice to the spouse, in the manner of an original notice.’ For minors, written consent of a child 14 or older and of both parents is required, subject to waiver on findings of abandonment, non-support, or no objection after proper notice. SAFETY EXEMPTION: not applicable to publication, because there is no publication to be exempted from. No separate domestic-violence confidentiality provision was located within chapter 674 itself; a survivor’s concern in Iowa is the notice-to-spouse requirement in § 674.6, not a newspaper ad.
  • Background check: No fingerprinting or criminal history check appears in chapter 674. Iowa Code § 674.1 does gate eligibility: ‘A person who has attained the age of majority and who does not have any civil disabilities may apply to the court to change the person’s name.’ Section 674.2 requires the petition to state current name, a physical description, five years of residency history, the reason for the change, a description of real property owned, the proposed name, and a certified birth certificate or acceptable alternative identification.
  • Hearing: not required

Official forms

What catches people out in Iowa

Iowa Code § 598.37 restricts what you can take in the decree: the name on your birth certificate, or the name you had immediately before the marriage. Anything else – a new name, a name from an earlier marriage that was not the name you held at the time of this marriage – goes to chapter 674.
A chapter 674 decree cannot be granted until 30 days after the petition is filed (§ 674.4). Build that into your timeline.
Chapter 674 requires you to disclose real property you own and five years of address history in the petition itself.
If you are married at the time of a chapter 674 petition, your spouse must be served in the manner of an original notice – a real obstacle for someone separated but not yet divorced.
Worth knowing

Iowa requires no newspaper publication for an adult name change. This is the opposite of Idaho, Indiana, and Maryland in this batch, and contradicts the common assumption that publication is universal.

The Iowa Judicial Branch publishes a single statewide $195 filing fee rather than leaving it to counties.

Iowa’s ‘one name change per lifetime absent just cause’ rule (§ 674.13) is unusual, and it expressly does not count a change made in a dissolution decree – so restoring a name in the divorce preserves your chapter 674 option for later.

Because there is no publication, chapter 674 has no publication-waiver provision for survivors; the exposure point in Iowa is the § 674.6 notice to a current spouse.

Sources for this page

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.iowacourts.gov/faq/how-do-i-change-my-name-in-a-divorce-case (404)

Found an error? Tell us — it goes on the corrections page with the date and how long it was live.

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Sources last checked30 August 2026
Page published30 August 2026
What this means. This is when the sources on this page were last read against their originals — statutes, court rules, official schedules — taken from the date this page was built from its sources. It is not the date the page was last edited. Adding a link or fixing a typo does not move it; re-reading the statute does. Law changes without notice, so treat anything time-sensitive as needing a fresh check. Where we get something wrong we publish it at thecusp.app/corrections with the date, what changed, and how long the error was live.