The law changed on November 25, 2025, and almost every guide to changing your name in Massachusetts is now wrong.
You no longer have to publish your name change in a newspaper. Publication used to be the default, and you had to file a motion asking a judge to excuse it. That is backwards now. Publication happens only if the court finds good cause to order it.
And your file is sealed automatically. Every petition filed on or after November 25, 2025 is impounded by operation of law. You do not have to ask.
For anyone changing their name after leaving an abusive relationship, or to match their gender identity, that is the difference between a private administrative step and a public notice with your old name, your new name, and a court date printed in the local paper.
What it costs
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Filing fee | $150 |
| Surcharge | $15 |
| Total to file | $165 |
| Citation fee, only if the court orders notice | +$15 |
| eFiling fee, one time | +$22 |
One fee per family. Each person needs their own petition, but a family filing together pays once. When you eFile the second and later petitions, select the waiver option so the total shows zero.
If you cannot afford it, file an Affidavit of Indigency. You qualify if you receive public assistance such as TAFDC, EAEDC, SSI, MassHealth or veterans’ benefits, or if your income after taxes is at or below 125 percent of the poverty threshold, or if paying would deprive you or your dependents of the necessities of life.
Two things about that affidavit are worth knowing. The waiver covers the cost of newspaper publication if publication is ever ordered. And if the affidavit looks regular and complete on its face, the clerk must grant it without a hearing and without you appearing.
The forms
Use the current versions. Anything with an older revision stamp is obsolete.
- CJP 27, Petition to Change Name of Adult, revised 12/11/25
- CJP 25, Petition to Change Name of Minor, revised 12/11/25
- CJP 30, Assent to Petition to Change Name of Minor, revised 12/11/25
- CJP 34, the CARI and Warrant Management System release
File in the Probate and Family Court in the county where you actually live. The form warns about this directly: you must currently live in the county where you file.
What happens after you file
The Probation Department runs a records check on anyone 12 or older who is the subject of a petition. It is not a CORI check. It is a CARI check, covering Massachusetts court activity, plus a warrant search. The form collects your Social Security number, your mother’s maiden name, and every alias you have used.
If nothing requires notice, the court can decide your petition without a hearing and issue the decree by mail. For most adults, that is now the whole process.
When publication is still ordered
The court rules give examples of good cause to require notice: the petitioner is incarcerated, on probation, on parole, committed as a sexually dangerous person, or in the custody of the Department of Youth Services.
For a minor, there is an automatic trigger: a legal parent or court-appointed guardian who has not signed a written assent.
If notice is ordered, interested parties must be served at least 14 days before the return day, and publication must run at least 7 days before it, in the newspaper the court names.
One gap in the sealing
Impoundment covers the petition and everything filed with it. The case caption and docket number are not impounded.
And impoundment applies to petitions filed on or after November 25, 2025. If you changed your name in 2023 or 2024, your file is public, and sealing it now takes a separate motion.
Can a judge say no?
Rarely. The statute is short and the presumption favors you:
“The change of name of a person shall be granted unless such change is inconsistent with public interests.”
In practice that means a judge is looking for fraud: are you trying to become someone else, or to escape a criminal record or a debt.
Two things people assume are disqualifying, and are not. A criminal record does not bar a name change. Neither does an open warrant or sex offender registration. What they do is supply good cause for notice, which lets the district attorney, the sheriff, parole, or the Sex Offender Registry Board object. The judge still decides on the merits.
It also helps to know the baseline. The SJC said in 1946 that at common law “a person may change his name at will, without resort to legal proceedings, by merely adopting another name, provided that this is done for an honest purpose.” You do not need a court to start using a different name. You need a court decree to change your identification.
Changing a child’s name
The structure surprises people. The child is the petitioner. A parent or guardian presents the petition as the child’s next friend.
A child 12 or older must sign a notarized assent before you file.
The petition asks each legal parent to assent or not, and if a parent has not assented, notice is required.
If the other parent objects, or cannot be found
An objecting parent files an appearance before the return date, and the matter goes to a hearing.
If you cannot locate the other parent, or certified mail fails despite real effort, file a Motion for Alternate Service and Affidavit of Diligent Search (CJP 31). The court decides what alternate service looks like, and will also require a military affidavit.
What the judge actually decides
Not whose name is more traditional. The Appeals Court reversed a name change in Jones v. Roe precisely because the trial judge had indulged “a presumption of patronymic naming,” and held that “the right of the father to have the child bear his name is no greater than that of the mother to have the child bear her name.”
The test is the child’s best interests, weighing:
- The effect on the child’s relationship with each parent and with siblings
- How long the child has used the current name
- The child’s age and how much they identify with the name
- Any difficulty or embarrassment from the present or proposed name
An older SJC case adds two points that cut in opposite directions. A father who supports his child and objects without unreasonable delay has a real say. But a parent “who completely abandons a child, or is indifferent to a child’s welfare or has by his serious misconduct caused the child embarrassment, can by his actions lose the right to successfully protest.”
Changing your name for gender identity
There is no separate process. You file the same CJP 27, and since November 2025 that process is private by default.
One small thing on the form worth knowing: CJP 27 includes a field asking which pronouns you would like court staff to use.
The birth certificate is a separate, easier track
Since July 1, 2024, you can change the sex designation on a Massachusetts birth record to female, male, or X by affidavit. The statute is unusually clear that nothing else is needed:
“no medical or healthcare related documentation, court order or proof of change of name shall be required by a local clerk, the state registrar or any other official in connection with a request under this paragraph.”
No doctor’s letter. No court order. No name change required first.
The name on a birth certificate is different and does require a certified copy of your court decree. If you change the designation first, you have three years to do the name, and the Department of Public Health can waive that for good cause.
Amending a birth certificate costs $50, plus $32 for a certified copy by mail or $20 in person.
Driver’s license
The sex field can be M, F or X. A name change has to be done in person by appointment, since they retake your photo and signature. The amendment fee is $25.
For a REAL ID, you need proof: a marriage certificate, divorce decree, or court document. For a standard license, the Registry’s published policy is that you may change your name with no documentation as long as there is no attempt to defraud.
Do Social Security first, because the Registry checks your number.
On passports, federal policy has been in flux and litigation. Check travel.state.gov directly rather than relying on any guide, including this one.
Marriage and divorce do not need a petition
Marriage. The statute is broad: each party may adopt any surname, keep or resume a present or birth name, or use a hyphenated combination. The catch is timing. You claim it on the marriage license before the wedding, and the certificate does the work. Miss that and you are back to a $165 petition.
Divorce. The court may allow you to resume a former name, but you have to ask before judgment enters. If you forgot and you are still in the nisi period, there is a motion for that: $100, no surcharge.
Two limits. You can only resume a former name this way, not adopt a new one. And you cannot change a child’s name through a divorce.
Common questions
Do you still have to publish a name change in the newspaper in Massachusetts?
No, not by default. A 2025 amendment effective November 25, 2025 eliminated the publication requirement. A court may order notice for good cause, such as where the petitioner is incarcerated, on probation or parole, or where a minor’s parent has not assented.
Is a Massachusetts name change public record?
Petitions filed on or after November 25, 2025 are impounded automatically and not available for inspection. The case caption and docket number are not impounded. Older filings remain public unless you move to impound them.
How much does it cost to change your name in Massachusetts?
$165 to file, which is a $150 fee plus a $15 surcharge, with $22 more to eFile and $15 more if the court orders a citation. One fee covers a whole family filing together. An Affidavit of Indigency can waive it, including publication costs.
Can I change my name in Massachusetts with a criminal record?
Yes. A record is not a bar. It is grounds for the court to require notice, which allows prosecutors, probation, parole or the Sex Offender Registry Board to object. The judge decides whether the change is inconsistent with the public interest.
Can I change my child’s last name if the other parent will not sign?
Yes, but notice is required and the other parent can appear and object. The court decides using the child’s best interests, weighing the effect on each parent relationship, how long the child has used the name, the child’s age, and any embarrassment.
How do I get an X gender marker on a Massachusetts birth certificate?
By affidavit. Since July 1, 2024, no medical documentation, court order, or name change is required to change the sex designation to female, male or X on a Massachusetts birth record.
Do I need a court order to change my name after marriage?
No, if you claimed the new name on your marriage license before the wedding. If you did not, you need a regular name change petition.
I forgot to ask for my maiden name back in my divorce. What now?
If you are still within the nisi period, you can file a motion in the divorce for $100 with no surcharge. Otherwise you file a name change petition.
Statutory text quoted from G.L. c. 210 §§ 12 and 13 as amended by St. 2025, c. 73, § 53 effective November 25, 2025; G.L. c. 46 §§ 1D and 13(e); and G.L. c. 208 § 23. Procedure from Uniform Probate and Family Court Practice XXXV, as amended effective January 6, 2026. Case law from Merolevitz, petitioner, 320 Mass. 448 (1946); Mark v. Kahn, 333 Mass. 517 (1956); and Jones v. Roe, 33 Mass. App. Ct. 660 (1992). Fees from the Probate and Family Court filing fee schedule and Registry of Vital Records and Statistics, current as of September 5, 2026. Several Massachusetts help pages still describe the pre-2025 publication procedure; the statute and Uniform Practice XXXV control. Federal passport policy is not covered here and should be verified directly. General information, not legal advice.