Kentucky Name Change Laws: How to Petition the District Court

Kentucky runs one of the least restrictive name-change processes covered in this guide. An adult petitions the District Court in their home county under KRS 401.010, a short, one-page statute with no newspaper-publication requirement and no criminal-history or sex-offender check anywhere in KRS Chapter 401.

This page covers how the adult petition works, what a Kentucky name change actually costs (fees are set county by county rather than by state law through 2027, with a statewide recording fee arriving in 2028), how minors are handled, and the separate, simpler route for restoring a former surname after divorce.

Information last verified on 2026-09-02. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

How to Legally Change Your Name in Kentucky

Under KRS 401.010, any adult may petition the District Court of the county where they reside for a change of name. If the petitioner resides on a United States Army post, military reservation, or fort, they may instead file in the District Court of any county adjacent to it. The statute does not spell out a separate durational residency period beyond living in the county of filing.

Kentucky's general age of majority is 18 (KRS 2.015), which is also the threshold for petitioning as an adult under Chapter 401. The petition is filed on form AOC-295 (Petition for Name Change), and the court's order is entered on form AOC-296 (Name Change Order), both available through the Kentucky Court of Justice's legal forms library.

Filing Fees

Kentucky has no single, statewide name-change filing fee. Costs are set by each county's Circuit/District Clerk, and reported examples vary from around $43 in court fees plus roughly $8 in county clerk fees, up to about $128.50 total in Kenton County. Because there is no published statewide fee schedule, confirm the current amount with your county clerk before filing. A standard in forma pauperis fee-waiver process is available through the clerk, though it is not specific to name-change cases.

One dated change is already on the books. Under KRS 401.040(1)(b), beginning January 1, 2028 the clerk of the court must collect the fee required under KRS 64.012 for the filing of a court-ordered name change and forward it with the certified copy of the order to the county clerk. That is a statewide fee attached to recording the order, so the county-by-county picture described above holds through 2027 and should be re-checked for 2028.

Changing a Minor's Name in Kentucky

Under KRS 401.020(1), both parents petition on a child's behalf. One parent may petition alone only if the other parent is deceased, and a guardian petitions only if no parent is living. The default court is the District Court of the county where the child resides. The case is heard instead by the Family Court of a county that has one, or by the Circuit Court of a county that does not, only where that court already has a case before it involving the family. If the child resides on a United States Army post, military reservation, or fort, KRS 401.020(3) allows filing in any adjacent county.

A parent who refuses or is unavailable does not simply drop out of the case. Under KRS 401.020(2), if one parent refuses or is unavailable to execute the petition, proper notice of the filing must be served in accordance with the Rules of Civil Procedure. The court must then hold a hearing no later than 60 days from the date of service and make findings of fact and conclusions of law based on the best interests of the child.

That contested track is also where the statute's five listed factors apply: the wishes of the child's parent or parents; the wishes of the child, with due consideration for the influence a parent may have over those wishes; the child's interaction and interrelationship with parents, siblings, and anyone else who may significantly affect the child's best interests; the motivation of the adults participating in the proceeding; and the mental and physical health of all individuals involved.

There is no separate minor-specific filing fee or form beyond AOC-295/AOC-296, and Kentucky has no age-14 consent threshold for a minor petitioner the way some other states do.

Publication: Not Required

No newspaper-publication or public-notice requirement exists anywhere in KRS Chapter 401. Kentucky is one of the states that never had one, so there is nothing to waive for privacy or safety reasons, unlike states that build a publication-waiver process into their statute.

Criminal History and Other Restrictions

KRS Chapter 401 contains no criminal-history disclosure requirement, no background check, and no sex-offender-registry restriction. That makes Kentucky's process genuinely one of the least restricted in the country. County judges do retain ordinary equitable discretion, though, and can still deny a petition even without a statutory bar if they find the request improper.

Restoring Your Name After Divorce

KRS 403.230 lets a spouse ask to restore a former surname as part of the divorce case itself, rather than filing a separate name-change petition. The request goes in the petition for dissolution or a counterpetition, and the court grants it in the final Decree of Dissolution. The statute's text is worded as belonging to "a wife," a gendered holdover that should be read as applying to whichever spouse is requesting restoration. The court "may" restore the name, and "shall" do so if there are no children of the marriage. Kentucky has no statutory provision letting a Decree of Legal Separation, as opposed to a converted Decree of Dissolution, restore a name.

Changing Your Name After Marriage

Kentucky has no codified marriage-based name-change statute. In practice, the Social Security Administration and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet accept a certified marriage certificate directly as proof of the name change, so no court petition is needed for a routine marriage-based name update.

Related Kentucky Records

For related Kentucky record searches, see Kentucky marriage and divorce records, Kentucky court records, and Kentucky divorce laws for how the restoration request fits into the dissolution case itself.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about Kentucky name-change law. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Fees, forms, and court procedures change; verify current details with your county District Court clerk or a licensed Kentucky attorney before relying on anything here for a specific situation.

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Last updated: 2026-09-02. Fees and forms reflect their published status as of September 2026. The county-by-county fee picture must be re-checked before January 1, 2028, when KRS 401.040(1)(b) takes effect.