I'm in NJ and in the process of changing my name. (My court date is on the 21st.) I'm doing it myself. ($200) plus paper legal notice fees. Most lawyers in NJ want around $1000 (including fees) to do it. The paperwork isn't too bad (the CIS form is a little confusing since there is no defendant) and the court clerks can help you fill out the forms. After filing a week later I received a phone call from the judge's secretary to confirm a court date that was 4 weeks away and she gave me exact instructions on how to place a legal notice for the court date and the time frame. She was transgender friendly and said it was perfectly OK to dress as myself and for the notice your suppose to check his or her and she said just have the notice say his/her. After my court date and everything is OK, I publish the order in the paper again, get the affidavit from the paper (by mail), go to the courthouse and get my certified copies to bring to DMV, SS, etc. Also you send a certified copy (make sure you get several since many agencies will keep the copy) to the vital statistics of the state you were born in (TN for me) to update your birth certificate. If all goes well, I should be able to change my ID by the 1st or 2nd week in June. This is a good thing since my license expires at the end of June anyway.
