Anonymous wrote:What agencies are involved in having a name changed? Social security? Birth certificate? Drivers license? Anything else?

Do insurance companies easily change minor names?

You have to do the name change at the county court, then after you have documentation of the legal name change you can start getting the other paperwork changed, like social security cards, ID, passport, etc. Insurance companies will change the name to match the legal name. It’s not like you’re asking them to use a nickname because your kid likes Harry better than Harold, this is their new legal name and you have the paperwork to show proof. The medical record will also be adjusted to match the new name.

Birth certificates have different rules in different states. My son was born in a state that will only change name and gender if you have sex reassignment surgery, so we plan to get his passport updated. Most of the situations he can use his passport instead of his birth certificate, so he won’t need to out himself often, if at all. I don’t know what the rules are for birth certificates when there is a name change without a gender change, but it would still be a state by state thing.

What agencies are involved in having a name changed? Social security? Birth certificate? Drivers license? Anything else?

Do insurance companies easily change minor names?

I just filed paperwork yesterday in Fairfax County to change my (minor) teens name. It cost around $45, including the credit card fee and an extra certified copy of the order (the actual filing fee itself is $41).

After that we'll just have to pay for a replacement license with the new name.

Montgomery county was recently $165 for the court fees, $85 to run it in the paper and $5 per each extra copy of the court order. Then there will be things like $20 to change your name on your driver's license. Changing your SSN is free.
(you don't change the number, but you have to inform them of the change. There's an order to do these things - court, then SSN, then driver's license then the other stuff (bank accounts, health insurance, insurance, etc)

In the DC area, Whitman Walker has lawyers who give advice and help you through the process free, not sure if they pay fees but they might have resources for those who might help.

I’m in CA and it costs about $450 to file for name & gender change here, plus passport fees (recommended if your state doesn’t have an easy birth certificate change process). So it costs closer to $600 in the end here. In CA, it says on the form right where the fees are listed that you can apply for a waiver if you can’t afford your fees and gives you a place to start that process. I assumed it would be similar in other states.

If you don’t know what state he’s in, you can’t really help him, unless you want to give some money to your friend to cover his costs.

It would really help to know what state he's in. Lots of places will waive fees if you're not able to pay and there's pro bono lawyers in some places to help with that process, but we'd need to know where. Trans Equality has a name change site to help describe the process by state, but most support will be more local.

A friend of a friend is concerned about a transgender teen boy she knows (18 or 19 years old) whose family has not been supportive. He would like to legally change his name but told her he doesn’t have to the money to do that right now. I don’t know what state he lives in but I (cis / straight woman) changed my name in the courts for other reasons and know the most expensive part was running the ad in the newspaper - a requirement I believe some states (including MD) have dropped for transgender people. I found myself wondering if there are any foundations that would pay the fees (for me it was about $80 to file in court and about $300 to run the ads). Does anyone know of such a foundation or have a sense generally what a name change costs now? (I changed my name more than 10 years ago.)