More on Virginia

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

Changing your name back in Virginia

Whether you can get your former name back in the divorce itself — and what it costs in Virginia if you miss that moment.

A name going back to what it was An identity card with a photo and a name line, and an arrow curving back over the card to show the name being restored.
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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 Virginia-specific.

Restore it in the divorceYesVa. Code § 20-121.4
After the decree is finalYes separate statutory name-change petition
Newspaper publicationNot required Virginia requires no newspaper publication for an adult name change. Section 8.01-217 has…
Background checkNo No fingerprints and no criminal history record must be obtained by the applicant, but §…
Separate petition fee$20.00 statutory…Confirmed from an official schedule.
CourtCircuit Court of the county or… Va. Code § 8.01-217(A)
What do you need?
Restoring your name in the divorceIf the decree is already finalThe separate name-change petitionWhat catches people out in…Sources for this pageEvery state
6 sections on this page. Pick one, or show everything.
The short version5 points · tap one to jump to it
  1. Restoring your name in the divorce
  2. If the decree is already final — Virginia's fee statute keeps this cheap: Va. Code § 17.1-275(A)(24) sets the clerk's fee for a § 8.01-217 name change at $20.
  3. 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.
  4. What catches people out in Virginia
  5. Every state
In this subject 6

Restoring your name in the divorce

Virginia restores a former name through the divorce itself, under Va. Code § 20-121.4.

“Restoration of former name. Upon decreeing a divorce from the bond of matrimony the court shall, on motion of a party who changed his or her name by reason of the marriage, restore such party’s former name or maiden name by separate order meeting the requirements of § 8.01-217.”

How much choice the judge has: mandatory on request – ‘the court shall, on motion of a party …, restore such party’s former name or maiden name.’ There is no good-cause or best-interest escape hatch in § 20-121.4 itself; the qualifier is procedural, in that the restoration must be by a separate order meeting § 8.01-217’s requirements.

Who may ask: the party changing the name – and specifically only ‘a party who changed his or her name by reason of the marriage’

Ask in the divorce — but missing it is not fatal

The statutory restoration in Virginia 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

Section 20-121.4 is keyed to the moment of decreeing the divorce (‘Upon decreeing a divorce … on motion of a party’), and the restoration issues as a separate order that must itself satisfy § 8.01-217. If nothing was requested in the divorce suit, the ordinary route is a free-standing Application for Change of Name (Adult) under § 8.01-217 in the circuit court of the city or county where the person resides. Virginia’s fee statute keeps this cheap: Va. Code § 17.1-275(A)(24) sets the clerk’s fee for a § 8.01-217 name change at $20.

Authority: Va. Code § 8.01-217

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: Va. Code § 8.01-217 (how name of person may be changed); Va. Code § 17.1-275(A)(24) (clerk’s fee)
  • Court: Circuit Court of the county or city in which the person whose name is to be changed resides (Va. Code § 8.01-217(A)); a person with no place of abode may apply to any circuit court, which will hear it only on a finding of good cause; an incarcerated person applies where incarcerated
  • Filing fee: $20.00 statutory clerk’s fee, plus locality-assessed statutory add-ons – see notes
  • Residency: Va. Code § 8.01-217(A): apply ‘to the circuit court of the county or city in which the person whose name is to be changed resides.’ No minimum duration of residence is set.
  • Publication: Virginia requires no newspaper publication for an adult name change. Section 8.01-217 has no publication provision. There is a publicity consequence rather than a publicity requirement: under § 8.01-217(F) the clerk ‘shall spread the order upon the current deed book in his office, index it in both the old and new names, and transmit a certified copy of the order and the application to the State Registrar of Vital Records and the Central Criminal Records Exchange.’ Notably, that transmittal ‘shall not be required of a person who changed his former name by reason of marriage and who makes application to resume a former name pursuant to § 20-121.4.’ The only publication-style notice in the statute is service on a non-joining parent in a MINOR’s case under § 8.01-296.
  • Background check: No fingerprints and no criminal history record must be obtained by the applicant, but § 8.01-217(B) requires the sworn application to disclose ‘the applicant’s felony conviction record, if any, whether the applicant is a person for whom registration with the Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry is required pursuant to Chapter 9 (§ 9.1-900 et seq.) of Title 9.1, whether the applicant is presently incarcerated or a probationer with any court, and if the applicant has previously changed his name, his former name or names.’ Section 8.01-217(D) then adds a heavy screen for three groups – probationers, registrants, and incarcerated people: no application from them is even accepted ‘unless the court finds that good cause exists,’ and if accepted the court must send the application to the Commonwealth’s Attorney where it was filed and where any qualifying conviction occurred, who has 30 days to respond; the Commonwealth’s Attorney ‘shall make a reasonable effort to provide notice to the victim of the offense’ (or a deceased victim’s immediate family member), who may appear or file a written statement opposing the change; and a hearing is mandatory, with the court able to grant only on findings that the change ‘(i) would not frustrate a legitimate law-enforcement purpose, (ii) is not sought for a fraudulent purpose, and (iii) would not otherwise infringe upon the rights of others,’ set out in writing. Section 8.01-217(E) makes subsection D jurisdictional: an order that fails to comply is ‘void ab initio,’ and the Commonwealth’s Attorney may sue at any time to have it declared void.
  • Hearing: not required

Official forms

What catches people out in Virginia

Section 20-121.4 only helps ‘a party who changed his or her name by reason of the marriage.’ A spouse who kept their own name throughout has nothing to restore under this section and would have to use § 8.01-217.
The restoration is granted ‘by separate order’ – not by a line buried in the divorce decree. Make sure the court actually enters that separate order and that you leave with a certified copy of it, because that is the document DMV and the Social Security Administration will want.
Section 17.1-275(A)(24) sets the clerk’s name-change fee at $20 but expressly says the subdivision ‘shall not be applicable in cases where the change of name is incident to a divorce.’ In other words there is no separate name-change fee when it is done inside the divorce – a genuine reason to handle it there.
The $20 is the clerk’s service fee, not necessarily the whole out-of-pocket cost; Virginia circuit clerks also collect statutory assessments on civil filings, so confirm the total with your own clerk’s office. Virginia’s official self-help site says flatly: ‘There is not one uniform filing fee. Fees depend on case type and location.’
A standalone § 8.01-217 name change is spread on the CURRENT DEED BOOK and indexed under both the old and new names, and a certified copy goes to Vital Records and the Central Criminal Records Exchange. A § 20-121.4 restoration after marriage is exempt from that transmittal under § 8.01-217(F) – so the divorce route also leaves a smaller paper trail.
If you are on probation, incarcerated, or on the Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry, § 8.01-217(D) requires prosecutor notice, victim notice, a hearing and written findings – and § 8.01-217(E) makes any noncompliant order void ab initio, forever, with no statute of limitations on the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s action to void it.
Worth knowing

Virginia HAS a real safety provision, at Va. Code § 8.01-217(G), and it is unusually strong: ‘If the applicant shall show cause to believe that in the event his change of name should become a public record, a serious threat to the health or safety of the applicant or his immediate family would exist, the chief judge of the circuit court may waive the requirement that the application be under oath or the court may order the record sealed and direct the clerk not to spread and index any orders entered in the cause, and a certified copy shall not be transmitted to the State Registrar of Vital Records or the Central Criminal Records Exchange.’ It also directs the Registrar to issue amended birth certifications that ‘do not reveal the former name or names of the applicant’ and that are ‘not be marked “amended”.’ Because Virginia has no publication requirement, this is a sealing exemption rather than a publication exemption – but it is exactly the protection a survivor needs, and it is not limited to any registry or program enrollment: the test is simply showing cause to believe a serious threat to health or safety would exist.

Section 8.01-217(A) contains a second, separate safety carve-out: in a minor’s case, if after an ex parte hearing the court ‘finds by clear and convincing evidence that such notice would present a serious threat to the health and safety of the applicant, the court may waive’ notice to the other parent.

Section 8.01-217(C) makes the grant essentially mandatory for ordinary applicants: the court ‘shall, unless the evidence shows that the change of name is sought for a fraudulent purpose or would otherwise infringe upon the rights of others …, order a change of name.’ A hearing is held only ‘if such be demanded.’

Section 8.01-217(F) limits what goes in the order: ‘The order shall contain no identifying information other than the applicant’s former name or names, new name, and current address.’

Subsections D and E were substantially rewritten by Acts 2025, cc. 206 and 220 – anything written before 2025 describing Virginia’s treatment of probationers and registrants is likely out of date.

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.vacourts.gov/forms/circuit/home renders its form table with JavaScript, so individual form links could not be enumerated programmatically; Form CC-1411 and CC-1414 were retrieved directly from the Judiciary’s static form paths and verified by reading the PDFs

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Sources last checked30 August 2026
Page published30 August 2026
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