Arkansas Name Change Laws: The 2023 Redaction Reform and How to Petition

Arkansas updated its name-change law in 2023. Act 331 added two requirements that did not exist before: the petition filed in circuit court must be verified, meaning signed under oath, and the court clerk must keep confidential identifying information out of the public case file. Anyone relying on an older description of Arkansas's process is likely reading pre-2023 law.

This guide covers the current circuit-court petition process, the 2023 redaction reform, what happens for minors and after divorce, and the restrictions that apply to registered sex offenders.

Information last verified on 2026-08-11. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Adult Petition Process

Adults petition the circuit court in the county where they live. Ark. Code Ann. Section 9-2-101 gives the circuit court power, on good reasons shown, to change a person's name, but the practical process changed substantially in 2023. Act 331 (HB1473) rewrote the section to require that the petition be verified, meaning signed under oath before a notary; to specify what the name-change order must contain; to require that confidential identifying information be redacted from the case file under Arkansas Supreme Court Administrative Order No. 19.1; to direct the clerk to deliver the unredacted order to certain state agencies; and to allow the file to be sealed. The clerk keeps a redacted version in the public file and sends an unredacted version to the Arkansas Crime Information Center, Driver Control, and, on request, the Division of Vital Records.

Act 331 was approved by the Governor on March 21, 2023. That is the signing date rather than the date the amendments took effect: the enacted act is a single section with no emergency clause and no effective-date provision, so it took effect later in 2023 rather than on the day it was signed. Either way, the requirements govern any petition filed today.

Read the redaction requirement precisely, because it is narrower than it first appears. Section 9-2-101(c)(2)(B) directs the clerk to ensure that identifying information in the case is redacted "other than the petitioner's new name and prior name." Both names stay in the file. Subsection (c)(3)(B) goes further: if the case is not already styled under both names, the clerk must modify the case caption and index the case under both the new name and the prior name. Redaction covers items like a Social Security number, birth date, and driver's license number; it does not hide the connection between the old name and the new one. A petitioner who needs that connection hidden has to ask the court to seal the file, described below.

Filing Fee

No official statewide circuit-clerk fee schedule was confirmed for this guide. Legal Aid of Arkansas estimates the cost at around $165, but that figure comes from legal-aid guidance, not an official court fee schedule, so confirm the current cost with your county circuit clerk. An In Forma Pauperis (IFP) petition is available for petitioners who cannot afford the fee.

Minor Name Changes

Arkansas does not appear to have a distinct statutory minor name-change provision separate from the general Section 9-2-101 process. Per Legal Aid of Arkansas guidance, both parents must consent, with notarized signatures, and a non-consenting parent must be formally served with the petition and may contest it. If a legal guardian is filing, the child's parents must consent as well.

Name Change After Divorce

Arkansas law lets a court restore a party's former name as part of the divorce case itself. Ark. Code Ann. Section 9-12-318 allows the court, when it finds either party entitled to a divorce, to restore that party to the name they used before the marriage. The statutory language is older and gendered, referring to restoring "the wife," but the mechanism applies as part of the divorce proceeding regardless of which spouse is requesting the change. See Arkansas divorce laws for the broader divorce process.

Publication

Arkansas has no newspaper-publication requirement for an ordinary adult name change. Confidentiality instead comes from two places inside the statute: the redaction of identifying information from the public file, and, for a petitioner who can show endangerment, a court order sealing the file under Section 9-2-101(c)(3)(C). Sealing is the stronger of the two, because redaction leaves both the old and the new name in the public index.

Restrictions

A judge can deny an Arkansas name-change petition for fraud, to avoid debts, to hide from law enforcement, or another improper purpose, and a name change does not erase existing criminal history, debts, or child-support obligations. Registered sex offenders face an additional, specific bar: Ark. Code Ann. Section 12-12-906 prohibits a name change unless it is incident to a change in marital status or necessary to exercise religion, and any approved change must be reported to local law enforcement within 5 calendar days.

Marriage-Based Name Change

Arkansas has no statute specifically codifying marriage-based name changes. A newly married person typically updates their last name by presenting a marriage certificate to the Social Security Administration and the Arkansas driver's license office, the customary practice used in most states.

Domestic Violence and Safety Considerations

Arkansas's statute contains a specific remedy for petitioners who are at risk, and it is stronger than the redaction rule. Under Ark. Code Ann. Section 9-2-101(c)(3)(C), "the court shall order the court file sealed upon clear and convincing evidence presented by the petitioner that the petitioner would otherwise be endangered." Sealing is mandatory once that showing is made. A petitioner who fears being located should be ready to put evidence of the danger in front of the judge and to ask for a sealing order in the same proceeding as the name change, rather than assuming the file is private by default.

Sealing matters here precisely because redaction does not do this job. The 2023 rule keeps identifiers such as a Social Security number and date of birth out of the public file, but the statute expressly excludes the new name and the prior name from redaction, and directs the clerk to index the case under both. Without a sealing order, the public court index pairs the old name with the new one, which is the exact linkage a person searching for a petitioner would use.

A sealed or redacted state court file also does not automatically make a new name confidential with the Social Security Administration or the U.S. State Department, which apply their own separate rules. Arkansas's separate Address Confidentiality Program is an additional, independent option for keeping a home address out of public records, and the circuit clerk can explain local filing mechanics, but neither substitutes for asking the court for the sealing order the statute provides.

Related Arkansas Records

See Arkansas marriage and divorce records for obtaining certified copies your petition may require, and Arkansas court records for how name-change case files fit into the state's broader court-records rules.

For the general nationwide process, see how to legally change your name, what it costs to change your name, and the post-name-change checklist.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about Arkansas name-change law. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. The statutory language quoted here comes from the enacted text of Act 331 of 2023, which the Arkansas General Assembly publishes free of charge, and from Ark. Code Ann. Sections 9-12-318 and 12-12-906. Filing costs and local practice come from Legal Aid of Arkansas guidance rather than an official fee schedule. Verify current details with your county circuit clerk or a licensed Arkansas attorney before relying on anything here for a specific situation.

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Last updated: 2026-08-11. Fees and forms reflect their published status as of August 2026.