The rest of what we have written about Texas. Every figure is quoted from Texas’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.
Changing your name back in Texas
Whether you can get your former name back in the divorce itself — and what it costs in Texas if you miss that moment.
See a different stateTexas
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 Texas-specific.
The short version5 points · tap one to jump to it
- Restoring your name in the divorce
- If the decree is already final — Sec. 6.706 and Sec. 45.105 both operate through the divorce decree itself and are keyed to a party 'specifically requesting' / 'specially praying for' the change before final disposition.
- 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.
- What catches people out in Texas — Texas has no publication requirement at all for adult name changes, so there is nothing to exempt survivors from.
- Every state
In this subject 6
Restoring your name in the divorce
The short version5 points · tap one to jump to it
- Restoring your name in the divorce
- If the decree is already final — Sec. 6.706 and Sec. 45.105 both operate through the divorce decree itself and are keyed to a party 'specifically requesting' / 'specially praying for' the change before final disposition.
- 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.
- What catches people out in Texas — Texas has no publication requirement at all for adult name changes, so there is nothing to exempt survivors from.
- Every state
In this subject 6
Texas restores a former name through the divorce itself, under Tex. Fam. Code Sec. 6.706 (see also the parallel provision at Tex. Fam. Code Sec. 45.105).
Sec. 6.706: “(a) In a decree of divorce or annulment, the court shall change the name of a party specifically requesting the change to a name previously used by the party unless the court states in the decree a reason for denying the change of name. (b) The court may not deny a change of name solely to keep the last name of family members the same. (c) A change of name does not release a person from liability incurred by the person under a previous name or defeat a right the person held under a previous name. (d) A person whose name is changed under this section may apply for a change of name certificate from the clerk of the court as provided by Section 45.106.” Sec. 45.105(a) says the same thing from the other direction: “On the final disposition of a suit for divorce, for annulment, or to declare a marriage void, the court shall enter a decree changing the name of a party specially praying for the change to a prior used name unless the court states in the decree a reason for denying the change of name. The court may not deny a change of name solely to keep last names of family members the same.”
How much choice the judge has: mandatory on request, with a stated-reason escape hatch – the court ‘shall’ change the name of a party ‘specifically requesting’ it ‘unless the court states in the decree a reason for denying the change of name,’ and may not deny it merely to keep family surnames matching
Who may ask: the party changing the name
The statutory restoration in Texas 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. 6.706 and Sec. 45.105 both operate through the divorce decree itself and are keyed to a party ‘specifically requesting’ / ‘specially praying for’ the change before final disposition. Texas has no statute allowing a name restoration to be added to a divorce decree after the fact, and the trial court’s plenary power over its judgment expires shortly after the decree becomes final. The ordinary route is therefore a brand-new adult change-of-name petition under ch. 45, subch. B in the county where the person now lives. That is a materially heavier filing than the divorce route: it requires a full set of fingerprints and detailed criminal-history disclosures that Sec. 6.706 does not.
Authority: Tex. Fam. Code ch. 45, subch. B (Sec. 45.101 – 45.107)
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: Tex. Fam. Code Sec. 45.101 (who may file; venue), Sec. 45.102 (requirements of petition), Sec. 45.103 (order), Sec. 45.104 (liabilities unaffected), Sec. 45.106 (change of name certificate), Sec. 45.107 (waiver of citation)
- Court: District Court (family district court where one exists), in the county of the adult’s residence – Tex. Fam. Code Sec. 45.101: “An adult may file a petition requesting a change of name in the county of the adult’s place of residence.”
- Filing fee: varies by county – commonly $350.00; see notes (schedule dated Harris County schedule effective 2026-01-01, updated 2026-07-15)
- Residency: Sec. 45.101 sets venue in “the county of the adult’s place of residence.” No minimum duration of residence is specified in the statute.
- Publication: Texas requires no newspaper publication for an adult name change. Nothing in Tex. Fam. Code ch. 45, subch. B mentions publication or published notice. The only notice mechanism in the subchapter is ordinary citation, which Sec. 45.107 lets a party waive.
- Background check: yes – this is the requirement to verify carefully. Tex. Fam. Code Sec. 45.102(a) provides that “A petition to change the name of an adult must be verified and include: … (4) whether the petitioner has been the subject of a final felony conviction; (5) whether the petitioner is subject to the registration requirements of Chapter 62, Code of Criminal Procedure; and (6) a legible and complete set of the petitioner’s fingerprints on a fingerprint card format acceptable to the Department of Public Safety and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” Sec. 45.102(b) further requires the petition to include, or reasonably explain the absence of: the petitioner’s full name, sex, race, date of birth, “driver’s license number for any driver’s license issued in the 10 years preceding the date of the petition,” social security number, and “any FBI number, state identification number, if known, or other reference number in a criminal history record system that identifies the petitioner”; plus “any offense above the grade of Class C misdemeanor for which the petitioner has been charged” and “the case number and the court if a warrant was issued or a charging instrument was filed or presented” for such an offense. So the exact requirement is: a fingerprint card filed with the petition, plus sworn criminal-history disclosures – not a certificate obtained in advance from DPS. Sec. 45.103(a) then says the court “shall order a change of name … for a person other than a person with a final felony conviction or a person subject to the registration requirements of Chapter 62 … if the change is in the interest or to the benefit of the petitioner and in the interest of the public.” A person with a final felony conviction may be granted a change only if, additionally, they “received a certificate of discharge by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice or completed a period of community supervision or juvenile probation … and not less than two years have passed,” or have “been pardoned,” or are changing to “the primary name used in the person’s criminal history record information.” A person subject to Chapter 62 sex-offender registration must “provide the court with proof that the person has notified the appropriate local law enforcement authority of the proposed name change.”
- Hearing: not required
Official forms
What catches people out in Texas
Texas has no publication requirement at all for adult name changes, so there is nothing to exempt survivors from. What Texas gives instead is targeted confidentiality for participants in the Attorney General’s Address Confidentiality Program (Code of Criminal Procedure ch. 58, subch. B – the program for victims of family violence, sexual assault or abuse, stalking, and trafficking). Under Sec. 45.102(c) an ACP participant who files a copy of their authorization card need not state the street address of their residence or their reason for the name change. Under Sec. 45.103(a-1) their name change is PRESUMED to be in their interest and the public interest. And under Sec. 45.103(c-1) the resulting order “is confidential and may not be released by the court to any person, regardless of whether the petitioner continues to participate in the address confidentiality program following the change of name.” That is a genuine, statutory safety protection – stronger than most states’ publication waivers – but it is gated on ACP enrollment, not merely on being a survivor.
The fingerprint card goes into the court file with the petition; the statute does not require the petitioner to obtain a DPS or FBI criminal history report in advance. Online guidance that tells Texans to order a DPS background check before filing is describing a practice, not the statutory requirement.
Sec. 45.105 duplicates Sec. 6.706 almost word for word. Either cite is defensible for the divorce-decree restoration; 6.706 sits in the divorce chapter and 45.105 in the name-change chapter.
Texas name change is not limited to a maiden name in the sense of a birth surname – both 6.706 and 45.105 restore ‘a name previously used by the party’ / ‘a prior used name,’ which can include a surname from an earlier marriage.
Travis County processes adult name changes by submission – no hearing – with the judge reviewing the paperwork in roughly one to six weeks.
Sources for this page
- Restoration in the divorce: https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.6.htm
- Restoring it after the decree: https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/pdf/FA.45.pdf
- Filing fee: https://www.hcdistrictclerk.com/common/civil/pdf/Fee_Schedule_Civil_and_Family.pdf
Sources we could not reach when this page was built, listed so you know what was not checked rather than assuming it was: https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.45.htm and the matching PDF return only a JavaScript application shell to a plain HTTP client; the statutory text above was retrieved through a rendering fetch of the same official Texas Legislature URLs
Found an error? Tell us — it goes on the corrections page with the date and how long it was live.