Maine Name Change Laws: Background Check Instead of Publication

Maine takes a genuinely different approach to name-change safety and transparency than most states in this guide. Its Probate Code, 18-C M.R.S. §1-701, explicitly bars the court from requiring public notice of a petition. In its place, every adult petitioner must undergo a mandatory criminal-history check before a judge will grant the change.

This page covers how that background-check model works, what a Maine name change costs, who can and cannot get a confidential record, how minors are handled, and a separate divorce-restoration statute that sits outside the Probate Code entirely.

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

How to Legally Change Your Name in Maine

Under 18-C M.R.S. §1-701, an adult petitions the Probate Court in the county where they reside. Maine residency is implied by that venue requirement, and no separate durational residency period appears in the statute. Maine recodified its probate law from the old Title 18-A to the current Title 18-C, so always look for the current section under 18-C, not the repealed 18-A.

No Public Notice, But a Mandatory Background Check

Maine's statute states plainly that the court "may not require public notice" before approving a name change. That is an affirmative bar on requiring publication, not simply a statute that happens to omit one. In its place, the court must require every adult petitioner to undergo a criminal-history record check. That mandatory check is defined narrowly: a motor-vehicle-record check and a credit check are separate items the statute makes discretionary, available for any petitioner, adult or minor, at the court's own option, not automatically bundled with the mandatory adult check. Offense class is not defined as part of the check's own scope either; it is a factor that comes into play once a criminal-history result exists.

That check does not automatically block a petition, but what the result shows matters a great deal to whether the record can be kept private. Under §1-701(3-A)(D), a conviction for murder or a Class A, Class B or Class C crime within the 10 years immediately preceding the filing, or a conviction for a Class D or Class E crime within the 5 years immediately preceding it, creates a rebuttable presumption that the public interest in disclosure outweighs the petitioner's interest in confidentiality. That is a presumption, so it shifts the burden rather than deciding the question, and it is not a bar on the name change itself.

Current criminal-justice supervision is a different and much harder rule, and it is easy to miss because it sits in the closing sentence of the same subsection. The court may not order a confidential name change at all where the adult is currently under official supervision as a probationer, a parolee or a sex offender on supervised release, or is currently required to register as a sex offender. That is categorical, not a presumption a petitioner can rebut with a strong safety showing. Worse for that petitioner, §1-701(6) adds a separate rebuttable presumption that a name change sought by someone in that same group is brought for purposes contrary to the public interest, and that provision goes to whether the court grants the name change at all, not merely whether the record stays private. Anyone with a criminal record should sort out which of the two situations applies before filing, because they carry very different consequences.

A petitioner outside that supervised group can ask the court for confidentiality, and the statute directs the court to weigh whether the adult is a victim of abuse, whether the adult is currently in reasonable fear for their safety, whether the adult participates in the Address Confidentiality Program under 5 M.R.S. §90-B, the background-check results, and any other factor the court considers relevant.

Your Order Is Public Unless You Ask, and It Goes to the State Police

Barring publication is not the same as making the case private, and Maine is explicit about the difference. Section 1-701(2) requires the court to tell an adult petitioner two things before approving the change: that the name change order "will be public unless the court grants a request by the petitioner to make the name change order confidential," and that an abstract of the order will be transmitted to the state police unless the court grants a request not to send it.

That transmission is the default, and it is recent law. For any adult name-change order issued on or after January 1, 2025, §1-701(3-B)(A) requires the court to electronically transmit an abstract of the order to the "bureau," which §1-701(1) defines as the Department of Public Safety, Bureau of State Police, State Bureau of Identification. The abstract carries the petitioner's former name, new name and date of birth, whether the court ordered the record confidential, and, if the court knows it and it is not otherwise confidential, the petitioner's physical address and criminal-history record number.

Stopping that abstract takes two separate things, not one. Under §1-701(3-B)(C), the court may order that an abstract not be transmitted only where the name-change order was already made confidential under subsection 3-A and the petitioner makes a showing of extraordinary circumstances. For a survivor seeking distance from an abuser, that means a confidentiality request alone does not keep the new name out of the state police record system; it is the necessary first step of two.

So the trade Maine makes is not simply publication in exchange for a background check. It is publication in exchange for a mandatory adult criminal-history check, a court order that is public by default, and a default report of the change to the state police, with privacy available on request and on findings.

Filing Fee

The filing fee is $75. Maine's statute does not address a fee-waiver process for that amount in the text available for this article; ask the Probate Court clerk in your county whether a waiver applies to your situation.

Changing a Minor's Name in Maine

A parent or guardian petitions in Probate Court, or in District Court where it has exclusive jurisdiction, such as an active custody case. If the minor is 14 or older, the statute requires the court to consider "whether the minor consents or objects to the name change petition." The standard is the best interest of the minor, assessed against statutory factors. Unlike the adult process, the criminal-history background check is discretionary rather than mandatory for a minor's petition.

Restoring Your Name After Divorce

Maine's divorce-restoration rule sits outside the Probate Code entirely, in 19-A M.R.S. §1051, part of the Domestic Relations title's chapter on divorce. If a spouse requests restoration of a former name in the divorce judgment, the court shall grant it, a mandatory outcome. If the spouse instead requests any other name, the court may grant it, a discretionary outcome. The statute does not specify whether the request has to appear in the original complaint or can be added later by motion.

Changing Your Name After Marriage

Maine has no codified marriage-based name-change statute. Marriage-certificate-based updates are handled administratively through the Social Security Administration and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, not a court filing.

Related Maine Records

For related Maine record searches, see Maine marriage and divorce records, Maine court records, and Maine divorce laws for how §1051's restoration rule fits into a divorce case.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about Maine 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 Probate Court or a licensed Maine 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.