The rest of what we have written about Pennsylvania. Every figure is quoted from Pennsylvania’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.
Changing your name back in Pennsylvania
Whether you can get your former name back in the divorce itself — and what it costs in Pennsylvania if you miss that moment.
See a different statePennsylvania
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 Pennsylvania-specific.
Restoring your name in the divorce
Pennsylvania restores a former name through the divorce itself, under 54 Pa.C.S. Sec. 704 (‘Divorcing and divorced person may resume prior name’).
‘(a) General rule.–Any person who is a party in a divorce action may, at any time prior to or subsequent to the entry of the divorce decree, resume any prior surname used by him or her by filing a written notice to such effect in the office of the prothonotary of the county in which the divorce action was filed or the decree of divorce was entered, showing the caption and docket number of the proceeding in divorce.’ Subsection (b) covers foreign decrees: ‘Where a divorced person has been the subject of a decree of divorce granted in a foreign jurisdiction, a certified copy of such foreign divorce decree may be filed with the prothonotary of the county where the person resides and, thereafter, the notice specified in subsection (a) may be filed with reference to such decree.’
How much choice the judge has: mandatory on request
Who may ask: the party changing the name
Pennsylvania does not require this to be settled before the decree is final.
If the decree is already final
Pennsylvania is the most forgiving state in this batch on timing. Sec. 704 says ‘at any time prior to or subsequent to the entry of the divorce decree.’ There is no deadline at all, and no judge is involved: you file a WRITTEN NOTICE with the prothonotary of the county where the divorce was filed or the decree entered, showing the caption and docket number of the divorce. It is a filing, not a petition – no hearing, no publication, no fingerprints, no judgment searches. The right is not limited to a birth name either: it reaches ‘any prior surname used by him or her.’ Sec. 704.1 gives a surviving spouse the same right, filing in the county where the surviving spouse resides with a certificate of death for the decedent.
Authority: 54 Pa.C.S. Sec. 704
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: 54 Pa.C.S. ch. 7 (Sections 701-705), principally 701 and 702
- Court: Court of Common Pleas of the county in which the individual resides
- Filing fee: varies by county – see notes
- Residency: File ‘in the court of common pleas of the county in which the individual resides.’ No minimum duration, but Sec. 701(a.1)(2)(iv) requires the petition to disclose ‘Any residence of the petitioner for the five years prior to the date of the petition,’ and each of those counties must be searched for judgments.
- Publication: Yes, and it is doubled. 54 Pa.C.S. Sec. 701(a.1)(3)(ii)(A) requires notice of the filing and of the hearing date to be ‘Published in two newspapers of general circulation in the county where the petitioner resides or a county contiguous to that county. One of the publications may be in the official paper for the publication of legal notices in the county.’ Notice must also be given under (3)(ii)(B) ‘to any nonpetitioning parent of a child whose name may be affected by the proceedings.’ At the hearing the petitioner must produce ‘Proof of publication of the notice’ under Sec. 701(a.1)(4)(ii)(A).
- Background check: VERIFIED AGAINST STATUTE TEXT. Two separate screens. (1) FINGERPRINTS – 54 Pa.C.S. Sec. 702(b): ‘Prior to entry of an order of approval of change of name … (1) The court must forward to the Pennsylvania State Police a duplicate copy of the application for change of name and a set of the person’s fingerprints. The person applying for the change of name is responsible for costs under this paragraph. (2) The Pennsylvania State Police shall use the fingerprints to determine if the person is subject to 18 Pa.C.S. Ch. 91 (relating to criminal history record information).’ If the person has a criminal history record the State Police note the name change on it; if not, they ‘destroy the fingerprints.’ The State Police must certify back to the court within 60 days. (2) JUDGMENT SEARCHES – 54 Pa.C.S. Sec. 701(a.1)(4)(ii)(B) requires the petitioner to present at the hearing ‘An official search of the proper offices of the county where petitioner resides and of any other county where petitioner has resided within five years prior to filing the petition showing that there are no judgments, decrees of record or other similar matters against the petitioner. This clause may be satisfied by a certificate given by a corporation authorized by law to make the search under this clause.’ Separately, Sec. 702(c) bars a name change outright for people convicted of an enumerated list of serious offenses (murder, voluntary manslaughter, rape, IDSI, statutory sexual assault, sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault, certain robbery and aggravated assault grades, arson, kidnapping, robbery of a motor vehicle, and attempt/conspiracy/solicitation to commit them), and allows a change for other felons only two years after completing the sentence and supervision, or after a pardon.
- Hearing: required
Official forms
- 54 Pa.C.S. Chapter 7 – Judicial Change of Name (full chapter text, PA General Assembly, PDF)
- 54 Pa.C.S. Chapter 7 – Judicial Change of Name (HTML view, PA General Assembly)
What catches people out in Pennsylvania
VERIFIED AGAINST STATUTE TEXT: Pennsylvania does require fingerprints and judgment searches for an ordinary adult name change – both confirmed in the enacted text of 54 Pa.C.S. Sec. 702(b) (fingerprints forwarded to the Pennsylvania State Police at the petitioner’s expense, prior to entry of the order) and Sec. 701(a.1)(4)(ii)(B) (official searches for judgments and decrees of record in every county of residence for the prior five years).
CRITICAL EXEMPTION, ALSO VERIFIED: Sec. 702(b)(5) provides that the fingerprint procedure ‘shall not apply to proceedings involving: (i) An election to resume a prior surname pursuant to section 704 (relating to divorced person may resume prior name).’ So the fingerprinting requirement Pennsylvania is known for does not reach a post-divorce name restoration. Adoption-related minor name changes and minor name changes under Sec. 703 are likewise exempt.
DV / SAFETY EXEMPTION: yes, and it is one of the strongest in the country. Sec. 701(a.1)(3)(iii): ‘If the court finds that the notice required in subparagraph (ii) would jeopardize the safety of the person seeking the name change or his or her child or ward, the notice required shall be waived by order of the court. Upon granting the request to waive any notice requirement, the court shall seal the file. In all cases filed under this paragraph, whether or not the name change petition is granted, there shall be no public access to any court record of the name change petition, proceeding or order, unless the name change is granted but the file is not sealed. The records shall only be opened by order of the court in which the petition was granted based upon a showing of good cause or at the applicant’s request.’ Note the reach: protection attaches even if the petition is DENIED, and it covers a child or ward as well as the petitioner. Sec. 701(a.1)(2)(v) requires the petition itself to state ‘If the petitioner requests the court proceed under paragraph (3)(iii)’ – so ask for it in the petition.
Pennsylvania also preserves a common-law informal name change. Sec. 701(b): ‘Notwithstanding subsection (a), a person may at any time adopt and use any name if such name is used consistently, nonfraudulently and exclusively.’ It is subject to the Sec. 702(c) felony restrictions.
Sec. 705 makes it a summary offense to violate the chapter ‘for purpose of avoiding payment of taxes or other debts.’
FEE not CONFIRMED. Pennsylvania name-change and prothonotary filing fees are set county by county, and no official county prothonotary fee schedule could be retrieved (Allegheny County’s fee schedule returned 403, and other county documents were unreachable). Rather than publish a plausible-looking number, filing_fee is left as ‘varies by county’ with fee confirmed false. Call the prothonotary of the county where your divorce was docketed and ask for the Sec. 704 notice fee specifically – it is typically far lower than a name-change petition fee.
Chapter 7 is cross-referenced by 23 Pa.C.S. Sec. 5105 (Domestic Relations).
Sources for this page
- Restoration in the divorce: https://www.palegis.us/statutes/consolidated/view-statute?txtType=PDF&ttl=54&div=00.&chpt=7
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.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/LI/consCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&ttl=54&div=0&chpt=7 (legacy PA statute site – HTTP 403; the current palegis.us site was used instead); https://www.alleghenycounty.us/files/assets/county/v/1/court-records/documents/civil-family-fee-schedule.pdf (HTTP 403); https://www.courts.phila.gov/pdf/forms/civil/fee-schedule.pdf (HTTP 404)
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