Can I change my last name after my divorce?

On Behalf of | Aug 29, 2019 | Firm News |

There are many changes that you make when getting a divorce in Illinois. You may move to a new home, adjust to being single and even share the care of your children. One other change that you may want to make is your last name. If you took your husband’s last name when you got married, then you know it was a fairly easy process. All you really had to do was declare that was what you wanted. However, changing your name back after a divorce is not so easy.

SulkValley.com explains that state laws makes changing your name after a divorce more complex than changing it when you marry by including a requirement that you must publicly announce your intent to change your name. This means extra costs for you since you have to pay to have a legal notice put in the local newspaper.

You do not have to do this when getting married and changing your name because there is an exception if the court issues a marriage certificate noting the name change. This is not true currently for divorce name changes, which is why you still have to go through the notice process.

There are some lawmakers who are trying to get this law changed and remove the public notice requirement. This would make the process easier for you to change your last name. The expectation is this will become the new law since there is really no reasoning behind the public notice anymore. This information is for education and is not legal advice.