Can I change my name in a different state?

[icontact]

I go to college on the East coast but technically "reside" on the West coast. Thing is, I'm only ever home for like two or three weeks at a time, and only twice a year, which isn't long enough to complete the process.

[Sarah Louise]

Check with a lawyer, they could do all the paperwork and represent you in court.

[Felix]

I don't see any reason to use a lawyer for this. It's just as much work to talk to a lawyer as it is to talk to a court clerk, and you still have to sign all the paperwork yourself either way. Did you try going to the local courthouse and just asking? I've never really had a home state, and I've had a bunch of state ID's/driver licenses but officials in any context rarely care what state my ID comes from.

[Paul]

I just did mine (will be finalized early next week) and I went through a lawyer, but it all had to go through the court system I legally lived in (ie: if I did it while still in college they still had to do it through my home court system).  My suggestion is pay a flat lawyer fee and they will take care of all of the legal stuff.  I met with my lawyer once and that was to fill out the initial paperwork (petition) and he's done all the rest and just called me with the updates.

[icontact]

What kind of price range am I looking at for a flat lawyer fee?

Paul: Was your lawyer in your state of residence?

[Felix]

The court order has nothing to do with what state your driver's license or birth certificate is in.

[Paul]

Icontact: I paid $530 and that covered the lawyer, all of the legal fees and the newspaper notification.  And yes, my lawyer lives/works about half an hour from me.

Felix: They have to run a legal notice in your local newspaper (where you legally live) which is why they go through your legal local court system...at least that's how it is in NY.

[Devin87]

I'm legally a resident of NH but right now I'm in NM until June.  I would love to have my name changed before June, but I'm just going to wait.  I know in NH you can make court appearances via telephone, so I could technically mail the paperwork in and then talk to the judge on the telephone on my court date.  But then you've got three days or something like that to get a new license and I obviously can't get to the DMV from here, so I don't see any other option but waiting.  I might put the paperwork in a few weeks before I go home, though, so hopefully I can get it changed as soon as possible once I get there.  I want to make sure I start grad school off as Devin.

[Felix]

Icontact: I paid $530 and that covered the lawyer, all of the legal fees and the newspaper notification.  And yes, my lawyer lives/works about half an hour from me.

Felix: They have to run a legal notice in your local newspaper (where you legally live) which is why they go through your legal local court system...at least that's how it is in NY.

Your license can be from any state and just has to be valid. You can prove local residence in other ways if you're asked to, but I wasn't asked to. The court order is still a valid name change even if I were to move to Washington or something before updating my DMV license. These are all separate things. Nobody has "jurisdiction" over my birth certificate except the state I was born in.

Anyway I just used a passport as ID for like ten years and it was never a problem. I always have valid ID of some sort, but it's rarely in the state I live in. I also don't give out my home address to any agency if I can avoid it. There are domestic violence protections at various levels of government that can help with that.