The rest of what we have written about Washington. Every figure is quoted from Washington’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.
Changing your name back in Washington
Whether you can get your former name back in the divorce itself — and what it costs in Washington if you miss that moment.
See a different stateWashington
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 Washington-specific.
Restoring your name in the divorce
Washington restores a former name through the divorce itself, under RCW 26.09.150(3).
“Upon request of a party whose marriage or domestic partnership is dissolved or declared invalid, the court shall order a former name restored or the court may, in its discretion, order a change to another name.”
How much choice the judge has: mandatory on request for a FORMER name (‘the court shall order a former name restored’); discretionary only if the party wants some other, new name (‘the court may, in its discretion, order a change to another name’)
Who may ask: the party changing the name
The statutory restoration in Washington 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
RCW 26.09.150(3) sits in the section headed ‘Decree of dissolution … Finality … Name of party,’ and RCW 26.09.150(1) says the decree ‘is final when entered.’ The restoration is meant to be requested in the dissolution and written into the decree. The statute does not on its face set a deadline, and this JSON does not assert one; but the reliable route after a final decree is a fresh RCW 4.24.130 petition, which in Washington is unusually cheap and easy – it can be filed in the district court of ANY judicial district in the state, with no residency requirement, and the court must waive all filing and recording fees on a hardship affidavit.
Authority: RCW 4.24.130
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: RCW 4.24.130; fees per RCW 4.24.130(4), RCW 36.18.010 and RCW 3.62.060
- Court: District Court of any judicial district in the state (RCW 4.24.130(1)). Superior Court instead – and this is a right, not an option the court can refuse – for the categories listed in RCW 4.24.130(5)(a), which include a person whose reason for the change is ‘due to an experience of or reasonable fear of domestic violence, stalking, unlawful harassment, or coercive control as those terms are defined in RCW 7.105.010,’ a change ‘related to gender expression or identity as defined in RCW 49.60.040,’ an emancipated minor, and a person who ‘has received asylum, refugee, or special immigrant juvenile status.’
- Filing fee: varies by county – see notes
- Residency: None. RCW 4.24.130(1) allows application ‘to the district court of any judicial district in the state.’ Under subsection (5)(a) the protected-category petitions ‘may be filed and shall be heard in any superior court in the state.’ Washington imposes no residency period and does not tie venue to where the petitioner lives.
- Publication: No newspaper publication is required. RCW 4.24.130 has no publication provision at all – the petition simply ‘set[s] forth the desire for such change’ and ‘such court in its discretion may order a change of the name.’ The public-exposure point in Washington is the county auditor: RCW 4.24.130(4) requires the district court to ‘transmit the fee and the order to the county auditor’ for recording. RCW 4.24.130(5)(c) switches that off for the protected categories.
- Background check: No fingerprints and no criminal history record are required of an ordinary petitioner. Two targeted rules exist. RCW 4.24.130(2): an offender under Department of Corrections jurisdiction ‘shall submit a copy of the application to the department of corrections not fewer than five days before the entry of an order granting the name change,’ no such order may be granted ‘if the court finds that doing so will interfere with legitimate penological interests, except that no order shall be denied when the name change is requested for religious or legitimate cultural reasons or in recognition of marriage or dissolution of marriage,’ and the offender must file a copy of the order with DOC within five days – ‘Violation of this subsection is a misdemeanor.’ RCW 4.24.130(3): ‘A sex offender subject to registration under RCW 9A.44.130 who applies to change the sex offender’s name … shall follow the procedures set forth in RCW 9A.44.130(7).’
- Hearing: required
Official forms
- Washington Courts – Name Changes (official guidance; notes that the petition and order forms come from the individual court, not the state site)
- RCW 4.24.130, Action for change of name – Fees (official)
- RCW 26.09.150, Decree … Name of party (official)
- Washington Court Directory (to find the district or superior court and its local forms)
What catches people out in Washington
Washington has the strongest domestic violence protection of any state in this batch, and it is automatic rather than something you have to argue for. RCW 4.24.130(5)(a)(ii)(B) routes a name change sought ‘due to an experience of or reasonable fear of domestic violence, stalking, unlawful harassment, or coercive control as those terms are defined in RCW 7.105.010’ into superior court, and RCW 4.24.130(5)(c) then provides: ‘Upon granting the name change, the superior court shall seal the file to protect the person’s privacy …. In all cases filed under this subsection (5), whether or not the name change petition is granted, there shall be no public access to any court record of the name change filing, proceeding, or order, unless the name change is granted but the file is not sealed. The name change file shall not thereafter be open to inspection except: (i) Upon order of the court for good cause shown; or (ii) upon the request of the person whose name change was granted or the person’s guardian or representative.’ Note two things most summaries miss: the confidentiality attaches even if the petition is DENIED, and it does not require a protection order, a police report, or any proof beyond the stated reason – a ‘reasonable fear’ suffices.
Washington has no residency requirement for a name change at all. RCW 4.24.130(1) lets a person apply to ‘the district court of any judicial district in the state.’ This is unusual and it makes Washington an easy state in which to complete a restoration that a divorce decree missed.
There is no newspaper publication requirement anywhere in Washington’s name-change law. Sources that describe Washington as a ‘publication state’ are wrong.
The DOC-offender rule in RCW 4.24.130(2) contains an express carve-out that matters here: an order may not be denied on penological-interest grounds ‘when the name change is requested for religious or legitimate cultural reasons or in recognition of marriage or dissolution of marriage.’
RCW 4.24.130 was amended in 2022 (c 141), 2023 (c 34) and reorganized by the 2021 protection-order overhaul (c 215); the RCW 7.105 cross-references are to the consolidated civil protection order act. Anything written before mid-2022 will not describe the current superior-court/sealing structure.
Sources for this page
- Restoration in the divorce: https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=26.09.150
- Restoring it after the decree: https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=4.24.130
- Filing fee: https://www.courts.wa.gov/forms/?fa=forms.static&staticID=13
Sources we could not reach when this page was built, listed so you know what was not checked rather than assuming it was: kingcounty.gov and piercecountywa.gov district court fee pages returned 404/403 to an automated request, so no named-county fee example is included; the state courts site’s own statement that fees vary by county is cited instead
Found an error? Tell us — it goes on the corrections page with the date and how long it was live.