Does your child want to change their name in Georgia? This can happen for a variety of reasons: divorce, adoption, domestic violence, pure preference. If this is a move you want to make, be prepared to follow the steps outlined in OCGA § 19-12-1 through 19-12-4. There are several steps and some specific requirements you must take in order for the court to grant your petition.

To change a child’s name in Georgia, a parent must first file a petition with the court. This petition should include a verification page to be signed in front of a notary public. The petition should include the petitioner’s name and residency, the relationship to the child, the name and birthdate of the child, where the child lives, the reason for the name change, the mother’s and father’s names and addresses, the guardian’s name and address if the child has one, and the request for relief (asking the court for the name change) and request for service on the parents.

If you are not the child’s parent, but you have the parents’ consent, you do not need to request service on the parents if they’ve filled out a consent and acknowledgment form. This form shows the court that the parents agree to the name change. This can save money and time in a name change proceeding. What if you search for one, or both, of the parents and do not know where they live or do not have their contact information? You can serve them by publication, which means you can publish in the newspaper notice of the proposed name change. If you go this route, you must include an affidavit of diligent search and some other forms.

If you do not have the consent of the parents, but know their local address, you can have the sheriff’s office serve them for a nominal fee. There are also steps you can take to internationally serve a parent who does not reside in the United States. For parents or guardians outside the state of Georgia, you can serve them via certified mail. Once you get that green card back from the United States Post Office, you can file it with the court.

Even if all parents and guardians consent to the name change, you still have to publish the notice. It’s a simple process, but mandatory. You can publish this through the clerk of court by paying a small fee and instructing the clerk to provide it to the newspaper. You should receive a publisher’s affidavit after it’s been published for four weeks, which is the statutorily mandated time frame for publication. This notice must appear within seven days of filing the notice and must include the reason for the change, the petitioner’s name, the child’s current name and the desired name, the court in which the petition was filed and the date it was filed, and the right of any interested or affected party to appear and file an objection. This notice must run in the newspaper for four consecutive weeks. 

If an objection isn’t filed with the court within the time limits allowed by law (30 days after filing for parents living in the state and 60 days after date of service to parents living out of state), a hearing takes place and a judge renders a final judgment on the petition. If there is an issue of what the law considers “family violence” the court has discretion to allow the name change without requiring the petitioner to fulfill all the requirements, and can also seal the record of the name change to protect the petitioner and/or the child. 

Once you obtain a final order allowing the name change, you must file the judge’s order with the clerk of court. After receiving certified copies of the order from the court, you can start the process of changing official documentation, such as a birth certificate, passport, social security, medical and school records, a driver’s license, or any other official documentation. And, if you are doing this because you are the natural parents of a child born out of wedlock, and you have now married each other, you can also add the father’s name to the child’s birth certificate. You simply need to fill out the application for an amended certificate of birth by legitimation through the vital records department and complete the steps.