Alaska Name Change Requirements

General Summary of Name Change Laws

The Courts are often willing to accept name changes for almost any legitimate reason. However, the granting of an application for change of name is discretionary with the Court. For an order/decree/judgment of name change to be granted, the Court must find compliance with the requirements of notice and the requirements for the allegations in the application. The Court must also find good and sufficient reason for the change, find the change consistent with the public interest and if the change of name is for a minor child, find that the change is in the best interests of the minor child.

You cannot change your/one's name for a fraudulent purpose, such as to avoid debts, you cannot change to a name that could affect the rights of another person, such as a celebrity, you cannot use a curse word, racial slur, obscene and/or an offensive word as part of your/one's name and you cannot change to a name that would cause deliberate confusion (for example, a name with punctuation and/or a number in it).

IMPORTANT NOTE: For name change actions, which involve a minor, our materials are strictly for use if both parents consent to the name change. If one parent does not consent, our materials are not appropriate. The applicant may wish to contact a local lawyer, bar association, etc.

Again, please remember, our name change materials are designed to cover simple, uncontested name changes ONLY.

Requirements to File for a Change of Name for an Adult in Alaska

Alaska law requires certain things before you can file for a name change and/or during the name change process in Alaska. These requirements include:

You must file in the Superior Court's nearest location to your residence.
You must have lived within the State of Alaska and the County in which you will be filing your application in for at least six months.
You must be an adult. Following is the age of majority, as taken directly from Title 25, Chapter 25.20, Sec. 25.20.010 of the Alaska Statutes, “A person is considered to have arrived at majority at the age of 18, and thereafter has control of the person's own actions and business and has all the rights and is subject to all the liabilities of citizens of full age, except as otherwise provided by statute.”
You are not changing your name to avoid creditors or to defraud someone.

General Summary of Name Change Laws in Alaska for an Adult

An adult who wishes, for good cause shown, to change their name must file their application in the Superior Court nearest to their residence. As indicated above, the Petitioner (the person who initiates the suit/application) must have lived within the State of Alaska and the County in which they will be filing their application in for at least six (6) months.

The Verified Petition includes personal information as required by statute, such as the Petitioner's name, the new name the Petitioner wishes to adopt and the reasons for the request for change of name.

After filing the Verified Petition and paying the required filing fee for such, the Court will provide the Petitioner with an Order for Hearing, Publication and Posting form. This form may be handed to the Petitioner upon the initial filing OR the Court may mail the form to the Petitioner thereafter (after the initial filing). This document will inform the Petitioner of his/her court hearing date (will be at least forty (40) days after the date of the Order), will advise the Petitioner which newspaper (s)he must use to publish notice and will notify the Petitioner whether or not (s)he must post the notice in addition to publishing it.

The notice must be published in the newspaper as directed in the Order, one (1) time per week for four (4) consecutive weeks. All four (4) publications MUST be completed before the court hearing. After publication is complete, the Petitioner must submit proof of publication to the clerk of the Court. This is accomplished by filing an affidavit provided by the newspaper verifying the publication. The affidavit is attached to a copy of the published notice and filed with the clerk.

In some cases, the Court may also require that the notice be posted in certain places in designated communities. If posting is required, the Petitioner must make copies of the notice and post it in places listed in the Order form, for the number of days stated in the Order. After posting has been completed, the Petitioner must prepare and file an Affidavit of Posting. PLEASE NOTE: Posting procedures vary not only from county to county but on a case by case basis. Consequently, if you are required to post notice in addition to publication of notice, please be certain to obtain directions for posting, from the Court upon notification of such.

At the hearing, the Court may take evidence from all interested parties. The Court may grant or refuse the requested change of name. In the event that anyone files an objection to your request, your case will become a contested case and you are strongly urged to hire an attorney. If you do not retain an attorney you will have to represent yourself in a contested hearing. If the judge is satisfied that there is no reasonable objection to the Petitioner's request for name change, the judge will sign a Judgment allowing the Petitioner to take the new name after a specified period of time, which will be at least thirty (30) days, after the judgment is distributed.

The Judgment requires the Petitioner to publish a copy of the Judgment and/or a Notice of Judgment, which is at the bottom of the Judgment form, once in the newspaper named in the Judgment. Once again, after publication is complete, the Petitioner must submit proof of publication to the clerk of the Court. This is accomplished by filing an affidavit provided by the newspaper verifying the publication. The affidavit is attached to a copy of the published Judgment/Notice of Judgment and filed with the clerk.

If the Judgment also requires the Petitioner to post a copy of the Judgment and/or a Notice of Judgment, which is at the bottom of the Judgment form, you should follow the directions as provided on the Judgment form and/or by the judge or Court. After posting has been completed, the Petitioner must again prepare and file an Affidavit of Posting. AGAIN, PLEASE NOTE: Posting procedures vary not only from county to county but on a case by case basis. Consequently, if you are required to post notice in addition to publication of notice, please be certain to obtain directions for posting, from the Court upon notification of such.

Thirty (30) days or more after the Judgment is distributed, if all required publication and posting of the Judgment has been completed and proof has been filed with the Court, the clerk will issue a Certificate of Change of Name allowing the Petitioner to begin using his/her new name.

Alaska Name Change Forms

Self-Prepared

Adult Name Change

$29.95

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