Changing your name back in Rhode Island

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

Restore it in the divorceYesR.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 15-5-17 (‘Change of name’)
After the decree is finalYes separate statutory name-change petition
Newspaper publicationNot required Expressly forbidden for adults. Sec. 33-22-28(d)
Background checkNo Discretionary. Sec. 33-22-28(e)
Separate petition fee$30.00Confirmed from an official schedule.
CourtProbate Court of the town or city… Sec. 33-22-28(b)

Restoring your name in the divorce

Rhode Island restores a former name through the divorce itself, under R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 15-5-17 (‘Change of name’).

‘Any person, to whom a divorce from the bond of marriage is decreed, shall, upon request, be authorized by the decree to change their name, notwithstanding that there may be children born of the marriage, and subject to the same rights and liabilities as if their name had not been changed. This statute is in addition to, and not in abrogation of, the common law.’

How much choice the judge has: mandatory on request

Who may ask: the party changing the name

Ask in the divorce — but missing it is not fatal

The statutory restoration in Rhode Island 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

Sec. 15-5-17 works through the decree (‘be authorized by the decree’), so the request belongs in the divorce. If it was missed, the fallback is genuinely easy in Rhode Island: a petition for change of name in the PROBATE COURT of the town or city where you live, at a statutory fee of $30, with no publication and no hearing notice to the world. Sec. 33-22-28(a) sets a strong presumption: ‘The change of name of a person shall be granted unless such change is sought for fraudulent purposes.’ Note also the closing line of Sec. 15-5-17 – the statute ‘is in addition to, and not in abrogation of, the common law’ – so Rhode Island continues to recognize the common-law right to use a name.

Authority: R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 33-22-28; Sec. 8-9-9

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: R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 33-22-28 (name change practice); Sec. 8-9-9 (probate court jurisdiction ‘of change of names of persons’)
  • Court: Probate Court of the town or city where the person resides (in Rhode Island the probate courts are municipal, not county)
  • Filing fee: $30.00
  • Residency: Sec. 33-22-28(b): ‘A person may petition to change that person’s name in the probate court in the town or city where the person resides.’ No minimum duration is stated.
  • Publication: Expressly forbidden for adults. Sec. 33-22-28(d): ‘Upon receipt of a petition to change name by an adult, the court may change the name of that adult. The court shall not require public notice or publication before approving the name change.’ This is a 2024 change (P.L. 2024, ch. 163, Sec. 1 and ch. 165, Sec. 1, both effective June 17, 2024). Before that, adult name changes fell under the general probate notice-by-advertisement rule in Sec. 33-22-11, which requires advertising ‘once a week for at least two (2) weeks, the first advertisement to be published at least fourteen (14) days before’ the hearing. Sec. 33-22-28(d) now overrides that for adult name changes.
  • Background check: Discretionary. Sec. 33-22-28(e): ‘The court may require a person seeking a name change to undergo a criminal history record check.’ It is not mandatory and fingerprints are not specified in the statute. Individual municipal probate courts may have local practices – Sec. 33-22-29 lets each probate court adopt local rules.
  • Hearing: not required

Official forms

What catches people out in Rhode Island

Rhode Island’s name-change court is the PROBATE COURT of your city or town – there are dozens of them, one per municipality, and each has its own clerk, hours and local rules under Sec. 33-22-29. Your divorce, by contrast, is in Family Court. Two different buildings, two different systems.
Ask for the name in the divorce – Sec. 15-5-17 works through the decree itself.
The statutory probate fee for a name change petition is $30, which is among the lowest in the country. If a town clerk quotes you a much larger number, ask what it is for; Sec. 33-22-21(a)(9) sets the petition fee.
If you cannot afford even that, Sec. 33-22-28(c) says: ‘If a petitioner is indigent, or demonstrates a limited or inability to pay, the court costs may be waived or reduced.’
A spouse or ex-spouse has no veto. Sec. 33-22-28(a) requires the judge to decide ‘without consideration of presence or absence of spousal consent.’
Worth knowing

DV SEALING PROVISION: yes, and Rhode Island copied New York’s strong formulation nearly word for word. Sec. 33-22-28(g): ‘The court shall, at the request of the person or sua sponte, order the records, including docket entries, of such name change proceedings sealed, to be opened only by order of the court for good cause shown or at the request of the person, if the court finds that an open record of the person’s name change would jeopardize such person’s safety based on the totality of the circumstances.’ Subsection (g)(1) defines ‘totality of the circumstances’ to ‘include, but not be limited to, a consideration of the risk of violence or discrimination against the person, including the person’s status as transgender or as a survivor of domestic violence,’ and (g)(2) adds: ‘The court shall not deny such sealing request solely on the basis that the person lacks specific instances of or a personal history of threats to their personal safety.’ Sealing reaches the docket entries, not just the file.

MAJOR 2024 CHANGE, VERIFIED: Both Sec. 33-22-28 and Sec. 15-5-17 were amended by P.L. 2024, ch. 163 and ch. 165, effective June 17, 2024. The amendments added the flat prohibition on requiring publication for an adult name change, added the sealing provision, made Sec. 15-5-17 gender-neutral, and added the savings clause preserving the common law. Any Rhode Island guide written before mid-2024 that describes newspaper advertising for an adult name change is out of date.

The presumption runs in the petitioner’s favor and the bar is narrow: ‘The change of name of a person shall be granted unless such change is sought for fraudulent purposes’ (Sec. 33-22-28(a)).

Sec. 15-5-17 as amended says the person may ‘change their name’ – not merely resume a former surname. Read literally that is broader than the typical restoration statute, though a Family Court’s practice on a wholly new name was not researched.

The $30 fee is statutory (Sec. 33-22-21(a)(9)), not a municipal schedule, so it is the same in every Rhode Island probate court. The statute does not carry a separate effective date for that figure, so fee_effective_date is null. Certified copies are $3.00 and copies $1.50 per page under Sec. 33-22-21(c).

Note the interaction worth knowing: Sec. 33-22-3 and Sec. 33-22-11 still govern notice for probate petitions generally, including advertisement in a newspaper. Sec. 33-22-28(d) carves ADULT name changes out of that. A minor’s name change is not carved out.

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Sources last checked30 August 2026
Page published30 August 2026
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