More on Mississippi

The rest of what we have written about Mississippi. Every figure is quoted from Mississippi’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.

Changing your name back in Mississippi

Whether you can get your former name back in the divorce itself — and what it costs in Mississippi 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 Mississippi-specific.

Restore it in the divorceNoNo divorce-restoration statute found in this state.
After the decree is finalYes separate statutory name-change petition
Newspaper publicationNot required No publication requirement appears in Miss. Code Ann. § 93-17-1, and the Mississippi…
Background checkNo Neither § 93-17-1 nor the Mississippi Access to Justice Commission guide requires…
Separate petition feevaries by countySet locally, so the number depends on where you file. The state pages below name a county example where we could confirm one.
CourtChancery Court (county of… File in the chancery court of the county where the petitioner resides (§ 93-17-1

Restoring your name in the divorce

Mississippi has no statute that specifically directs the divorce court to restore a former name. That is worth saying plainly, because guides that cite one for Mississippi are citing something that does not exist. It does not necessarily mean the court will not do it — courts commonly include the restoration in a decree when it is pleaded for — but the authority is the court’s general power, not a section you can point at. Plead for it in your petition, and expect the standalone route below to be the reliable one.

If the decree is already final

Section 93-17-1 gives the chancery court (or the chancellor in vacation) of the county of the petitioner’s residence jurisdiction ‘upon the petition of any person to alter the names of such person.’ That is the route the Mississippi Access to Justice Commission’s self-help guide describes for an adult name change, and it is available whether or not there was a divorce.

Authority: Miss. Code Ann. § 93-17-1

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: Miss. Code Ann. § 93-17-1
  • Court: Chancery Court (county of residence)
  • Filing fee: varies by county – see notes
  • Residency: File in the chancery court of the county where the petitioner resides (§ 93-17-1; MS Access to Justice Commission guide: file ‘in the county where you reside’). No minimum durational residency is stated.
  • Publication: No publication requirement appears in Miss. Code Ann. § 93-17-1, and the Mississippi Access to Justice Commission’s adult name-change guide does not mention newspaper publication. I found no primary source imposing publication for an adult name change in Mississippi. Note that local chancery court rules could impose process requirements I could not survey county by county.
  • Background check: Neither § 93-17-1 nor the Mississippi Access to Justice Commission guide requires fingerprints or a criminal background check for an adult name change.
  • Hearing: required

Official forms

What catches people out in Mississippi

There is no Mississippi statute that specifically lets a divorce court restore a former name. I read all of Miss. Code Title 93, Chapter 5 (Divorce and Alimony) and found no name-restoration provision – § 93-5-23 is custody and alimony, § 93-5-25 is the effect of the judgment. The authority chancellors use is the general name-change jurisdiction in § 93-17-1, which is in the adoption/name-change chapter.
Because the authority is the general name-change statute, a restoration request is normally pleaded in the divorce complaint so the chancellor can grant it in the same decree – but that is practice, not a statutory entitlement, and I could not confirm it on a primary source.
The process is hearing-based: you file the petition and coversheet, then ask the chancery clerk for a hearing date. The clerk cannot give legal advice and the hearing cannot be on a weekend or court holiday.
The petition must be notarized.
Fees are set county by county under Miss. Code §§ 25-7-9 and 25-7-19 – call the chancery clerk before you file.
Worth knowing

MISSISSIPPI DOES not PUBLISH ITS CODE FOR FREE ON A STATE WEBSITE. The Mississippi Legislature’s site (billstatus.ls.state.ms.us) carries bills only, and the official annotated code is behind LexisNexis. I could not read § 93-17-1 or Title 93, Chapter 5 on any Mississippi state site. The text quoted above was read on a public mirror of the Mississippi Code (unicourt.github.io/cic-code-ms, the open-source Mississippi Code transform), which is not a primary source. Treat the § 93-17-1 wording as unverified against an official publication.

Because I could not verify the divorce-restoration question against any primary Mississippi source, the entire restore in divorce block is null rather than filled in with a plausible cite.

no DOMESTIC-VIOLENCE PUBLICATION EXEMPTION EXISTS BECAUSE no PUBLICATION IS REQUIRED. I found no Mississippi statute providing for sealing or confidentiality of an adult name-change file for safety reasons either – that is a real gap for survivors, since chancery filings are public and searchable through Mississippi Electronic Courts (MEC).

Fee example: Oktibbeha County Chancery Clerk’s published fee schedule lists ‘Name Change $148.00’. The Mississippi Access to Justice Commission guide says the fee is ‘less than $100’ and varies by county, which conflicts with the county schedules I could read – so call the specific chancery clerk. DeSoto County and Lamar County fee pages we could not retrieved.

The Oktibbeha County schedule does not state an effective date, so fee_effective_date is null.

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.desotocountyms.gov/675/Chancery-Court-Filing-Fees; https://lamarcountyms.gov/ms/departments/chancery-clerk/chancery-fee-schedule/; https://www.madison-co.com/sites/default/files/chancery_court_fees.effective_1-1-2020.pdf

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.