The rest of what we have written about South Carolina. Every figure is quoted from South Carolina’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.
Changing your name back in South Carolina
Whether you can get your former name back in the divorce itself — and what it costs in South Carolina if you miss that moment.
See a different stateSouth Carolina
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 South Carolina-specific.
Restoring your name in the divorce
South Carolina restores a former name through the divorce itself, under S.C. Code Ann. Sec. 20-3-180 (‘Change of name after divorce or separation’).
The whole section is one sentence: ‘The court, upon the granting of final judgment of divorce or an order of separate maintenance, may allow a party to resume a former surname or the surname of a former spouse.’ Reinforced by S.C. Code Ann. Sec. 15-49-20(J): ‘The provisions of this section do not apply to a person who wishes to resume her maiden name as a result of a domestic action filed in family court. A family court judge may authorize a name change for a person wishing to resume her maiden name in another order including, but not limited to, an order for separate support and maintenance or a final divorce decree.’
How much choice the judge has: discretionary
Who may ask: the party changing the name
The statutory restoration in South Carolina 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. 20-3-180 operates ‘upon the granting of final judgment of divorce or an order of separate maintenance,’ so the request belongs in the divorce or separate maintenance action. Sec. 15-49-20(J) is somewhat broader – it lets a family court judge authorize the resumption ‘in another order including, but not limited to, an order for separate support and maintenance or a final divorce decree’ – but it is still framed around an order in a family court domestic action. If the divorce is closed and no name provision was entered, the ordinary route is a change-of-name petition under Sec. 15-49-10, which in South Carolina means the full SLED fingerprint and criminal background check package described below. That is a materially heavier burden than asking in the divorce, so this is one of the states where missing the moment genuinely costs you.
Authority: S.C. Code Ann. Sections 15-49-10 to 15-49-50
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: S.C. Code Ann. Sections 15-49-10 to 15-49-50 (Title 15, Chapter 49)
- Court: Family Court (a family court judge in the appropriate circuit)
- Filing fee: $150.00 (schedule dated 2017-07-01 (the $50 additional fee component, per 2017 Act No. 96, Pt. II, Sec. 4.B))
- Residency: Sec. 15-49-10(A): ‘A person who has been a resident of the State of South Carolina for at least six months and who desires to change his name may petition, in writing, a family court judge in the appropriate circuit.’ The six-month requirement was added by 2022 Act No. 183, Sec. 1, effective May 16, 2022. It can be waived for survivors – see the DV note below.
- Publication: No. Title 15, Chapter 49 contains no newspaper publication or public notice requirement for an adult name change. The screening South Carolina imposes is done through state agency record checks, not through publishing your name in a paper. (The only publication provisions in the divorce chapter, Sec. 20-3-70, concern service by publication on a nonresident defendant, which is a different thing.)
- Background check: Yes – the heaviest screening package of any state in this batch. Sec. 15-49-20(A) requires the petitioner to attach to the petition or provide directly to the court, as part of the record: ‘(1) the results of a fingerprint and criminal background check conducted by the State Law Enforcement Division; (2) a screening statement from the Department of Social Services that indicates whether the person is listed on the department’s Central Registry of Child Abuse and Neglect; (3) an affidavit signed by the petitioner which provides whether the petitioner is under a court order to pay child support or alimony; (4) a screening statement from the State Law Enforcement Division that indicates whether the person is listed on the division’s sex offender registry; (5) an affidavit signed by the petitioner which provides that the petitioner is currently a resident of the State of South Carolina and has been a resident of the State for at least six months’ with documentary proof of residency. Sec. 15-49-20(F) requires a further affidavit that the petitioner ‘has never been convicted of a crime under a name other than the name in which he is making the request,’ which a surrogate may not sign; falsifying it is punishable by up to six months (Sec. 15-49-20(G)) or, for a registered sex offender falsifying it to obtain employment, up to ten years (Sec. 15-49-20(H)). Sec. 15-49-20(I): ‘All costs associated with the requirements of this section are the sole responsibility of the petitioner.’ CRUCIALLY, Sec. 15-49-20(J) exempts from ALL of this a person resuming a maiden name through a family court domestic action.
- Hearing: not required
Official forms
- S.C. Code Ann. Title 15, Chapter 49 – Change of Name (full chapter)
- S.C. Code Ann. Sec. 20-3-180 – Change of name after divorce or separation (Title 20, Chapter 3)
- S.C. Code Ann. Sec. 8-21-310(C)(1) – $100 filing fee component
- S.C. Code Ann. Sec. 14-1-204(B)(1) – additional $50 filing fee component
What catches people out in South Carolina
DV PROTECTIONS: yes, two of them – but note carefully that neither is a publication exemption, because South Carolina does not require publication in the first place. (1) RESIDENCY WAIVER – Sec. 15-49-20(A)(5): ‘To protect the petitioner’s safety, the court may waive the six months’ residency requirement if the petitioner provides evidence that: (a) the petitioner is a victim of domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, harassment, sexual offenses, trafficking in persons, or other abuse; and (b) the petitioner is currently in reasonable fear of the petitioner’s safety.’ The statute then lists the acceptable evidence: law enforcement, court or other federal or state agency applications, records or files; documentation from an agency or nonprofit that provides specialized assistance or services to victims; or documentation from a religious, medical or other professional from whom the applicant sought assistance in connection with the alleged victimization. This is unusually well drafted – it anticipates a survivor who has just fled to South Carolina. (2) SEALING – Sec. 15-49-20(K): ‘Upon the petitioner’s request, after granting the name change, the court shall seal the file if the court finds that the safety of the petitioner seeking the name change or the safety of the petitioner’s child or ward warrants sealing the file. In all cases filed under this subsection, where the court orders that the file be sealed, any court record of the name change petition, proceeding, or order shall not be made public.’ Subsection (K) was added by 2022 Act No. 183, Sec. 3, effective May 16, 2022.
2022 Act No. 183 (H.3271) is the key recent change: it added the six-month residency requirement AND the residency waiver for survivors AND the sealing provision, all effective May 16, 2022. South Carolina guides written before mid-2022 miss all three.
South Carolina puts adult name changes in FAMILY COURT, not a probate or general civil court. That is unusual and it is the same court that handles the divorce.
The $150 filing fee is statutory and adds up from two sections: Sec. 15-49-30 says ‘The filing fee provided in Section 8-21-310(C)(1) applies with respect to an action for change of name’; Sec. 8-21-310(C)(1) sets $100 ‘in addition to the fee imposed by Section 14-1-204(B)(1)’; and Sec. 14-1-204(B)(1) adds ‘an additional fee equal to fifty dollars.’ Total $150. That does not include what SLED and DSS charge for their checks, which Sec. 15-49-20(I) puts entirely on the petitioner.
Sec. 15-49-20(B) makes the hearing optional: ‘Prior to issuing an order for a name change, the court may conduct a hearing on the petition and may order the petitioner to be present.’ Sec. 15-49-20(C) gives the judge broad discretion, deciding ‘as the judge considers proper, having a due regard to the true interest of the petitioner and protection of the public.’
Sec. 15-49-40 handles a pending lawsuit: a name change does not abate it; ‘the record on motion shall be amended by expunging the old name and inserting the new name of the party.’ Sec. 15-49-50 confirms that changing your name does not shed existing obligations.
Sources for this page
- Restoration in the divorce: https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t20c003.php
- Restoring it after the decree: https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t15c049.php
- Filing fee: https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t08c021.php
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