New Jersey Name Change Laws: How to Legally Change Your Name

New Jersey handles a legal name change as a Superior Court action under N.J.S.A. 2A:52-1, filed in the Law Division, Civil Part when an adult is changing only their own name, and in the Chancery Division, Family Part when a minor is involved. According to the Judiciary's own self-help packets, the court filing fee is a flat $250, no newspaper publication is required, and there is no outright bar tied to a criminal record. Instead, the statute requires a sworn disclosure of any convictions or pending charges plus a certification that the change is not being sought to evade debt or commit fraud.

One step catches many petitioners out: every applicant, not only those with charges pending, must serve the Order Fixing Date of Hearing on the Director of the Division of Criminal Justice in Trenton at least 20 days before the hearing. This page covers the adult and minor petition process, the fee, publication, restrictions, and how marriage and divorce affect a New Jersey name.

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

How to Legally Change Your Name as an Adult in New Jersey

File in the Superior Court, Law Division, Civil Part, of the county where you live, using New Jersey's self-help packet, form CN 10551 (How to Ask the Court to Change Your Name, Adults Only). According to the packet, the filing fee is a flat $250, by check or money order payable to Treasurer, State of New Jersey, and a single $250 fee covers multiple adult family members changing their names together. Expect smaller downstream costs too: $25 for each certified copy of the Final Judgment with a raised seal, $50 to file that judgment with the Department of Treasury, and a small fee at the Registrar of Vital Statistics. A fee waiver is available on a showing of financial hardship, documented with pay stubs, public-benefits paperwork, unemployment records, or bank statements.

Once the court returns your filed papers with a docket number, Step 9 of the packet requires you to send a copy of the Order Fixing Date of Hearing, by regular mail and by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the Director, Division of Criminal Justice, Records and Identification Section, R. J. Hughes Justice Complex, 25 Market Street, P.O. Box 085, Trenton, NJ 08625-0085, at least 20 days before the hearing. This applies to every petitioner. The packet routes applicants without pending charges directly to this step, and the court will not proceed without a completed Proof of Mailing showing the certified-mail receipt.

The Judiciary's self-help instructions describe residency as simply living in New Jersey, with no stated minimum duration.

Changing a Minor's Name in New Jersey

A minor's name change is filed in the Chancery Division, Family Part, using packet CN 10552, but it rests on the same statute as an adult case. The minor Verified Complaint (Form F) demands "judgment pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2A:52-1 to -4," and the minor Final Judgment (Form H) recites that "the provisions of N.J.S.A. 2A:52-1-4 and the Current N.J. Court Rules relating thereto have been complied with." Only the venue and the procedural steps come from the court rule; the governing statute is Title 2A either way.

The filing fee is the same $250, payable to Treasurer, State of New Jersey, and that single fee covers all family members changing their names in one filing. A separate Verified Complaint must be submitted for each person, and each receives its own docket number.

According to the packet, the parent who is not filing the petition must be sent a copy of the Verified Complaint and the Order Fixing Date for Hearing, by certified mail, return receipt requested, to their last known address, unless that parent lives at the same address, is deceased, or has had parental rights terminated. The 20-day notice to the Director of the Division of Criminal Justice applies here too, for each person named in the filing.

No Publication Required

New Jersey does not require newspaper publication for a name change. The state's own step-by-step guide states plainly: "You DO NOT need to publish your name change request in a newspaper." The Judiciary's adult self-help packet likewise describes the process with no publication step anywhere in it.

On public access to the case file, be careful about how much privacy to assume. New Jersey's Division on Civil Rights states on its transgender equality pages that "in 2021, the NJ Supreme Court ordered that all records of name changes be excluded from public access to respect the rights and privacy of transgender individuals." That statement is published by the state, but it names no order number or date, and we were not able to locate the underlying order on the Judiciary's own site. What the current court packets themselves show is narrower and concrete: the Certification of Confidential Information for Name Change holds the Social Security number and other sensitive data on a separate form, and the Final Judgment Addendum carries the instruction that it "shall not be made public in any form." Treat the broader exclusion as the state's own description rather than something to rely on, and ask the county court clerk what is publicly viewable before assuming a filing is shielded. Any state-court protection is also just that: it does not make a name change confidential with federal agencies like the Social Security Administration or the State Department's passport office.

Restrictions: Disclosure, Not a Bar

New Jersey's approach to a petitioner's criminal history is disclosure-based rather than a categorical bar. Every petitioner notifies the Division of Criminal Justice as described above. On top of that, if you have criminal or delinquency charges pending in New Jersey, packet Step 8 requires you to send the Verified Complaint, the Certification of Confidential Information for Name Change, and the Order Fixing Date of Hearing, by regular mail and certified mail, return receipt requested, to the prosecutor of the county where the matter is being heard, at least 20 days before the hearing. If the Office of the Attorney General brought the charges, that copy goes to the Director of the Division of Criminal Justice instead. Petitioners with pending charges must also include the Verified Complaint and the Certification with the Division of Criminal Justice mailing. No language categorically denying a petition based on a past conviction appears in the Judiciary's own description of the process.

The petition itself requires a sworn statement that the name change is not being sought to avoid or obstruct a criminal prosecution, or to avoid creditors or commit a criminal or civil fraud. Knowingly giving false information on that statement is a fourth-degree crime. Separately, New Jersey's Megan's Law sex-offender-registration statutes likely impose their own duty on registrants to report a name change to law enforcement, but that is a registration-compliance obligation distinct from any bar on filing the name-change petition itself, and should not be confused with a filing restriction.

Name Change After Marriage in New Jersey

New Jersey's own materials treat a marriage-based name change as an administrative matter, not a distinct court filing: a newly married person updates their name with the Social Security Administration and the Motor Vehicle Commission using a certified marriage certificate, without filing a separate name-change petition.

After the Judgment: Treasury, Vital Statistics, and the MVC

Once the judge signs the Final Judgment, order certified copies with a raised seal through the Judiciary Electronic Document Submission system, at $25 per copy. Within 45 days of the date of the judgment, send a certified copy, with the Final Judgment Addendum attached, to the Department of Treasury, Division of Revenue, Judgment Name Change Unit, P.O. Box 453, Trenton, NJ 08646, with a check or money order for $50 payable to Treasurer, State of New Jersey. If you are changing the names of multiple family members, include the fee for each one.

A certified copy also goes to the Registrar of Vital Statistics of the state where the person was born. In New Jersey, there is a $2 fee to process the legal name change, $25 if you want a corrected birth certificate, marriage license, civil union, or domestic partnership record, and $2 for each additional copy. Licensed drivers, registered vehicle owners, and holders of a handicapped or non-driver identification card must also present a certified copy in person at a Motor Vehicle Agency or Regional Service Center.

Name Change After Divorce in New Jersey

According to New Jersey court materials, N.J.S.A. 2A:34-21 lets the court allow either spouse or partner to resume a former name, or assume a new surname, upon or after granting a divorce. That "upon or after" framing means this can happen as part of the divorce judgment itself, or by a later motion, rather than requiring you to catch it in the original filing.

Related New Jersey Records

See New Jersey marriage and divorce records for documenting a name restored in a divorce judgment, New Jersey court records for how a name-change case fits into the state's broader court records, and New Jersey divorce laws for the dissolution process itself.

For the national picture, see how to legally change your name, how much does it cost to change your name, and the name change checklist. For every state side by side, see name change laws by state.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about New Jersey 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 New Jersey Superior Court clerk or a licensed New Jersey attorney before relying on anything here for a specific filing.

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