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How much does it cost to change your name in Illinois?

Filing a Request for Name Change in Cook County costs $388 on the Clerk of the Circuit Court's County Division fee schedule — one of the highest name-change filing fees in the country — plus $6 per certified copy of the order and the price of three weeks of newspaper publication, which the newspaper, not the court, sets.

Illinois name change fees at a glance

The $388 and the $6 certified copy are the Cook County figures carried in the county's name change instructions and the Clerk's County Division fee schedule; other Illinois counties set their own filing fees within the statewide clerk-fee framework, and several downstate counties file the identical statewide forms for substantially less — Cook County is the ceiling, not the norm. Illinois uses one set of Supreme Court-approved statewide forms (Request for Name Change for an adult; separate packets add a spouse or children), filed in the circuit court of the county where the petitioner lives, and in Cook County the filing is made by e-file in the County Division. Two parts of the total are deliberately unpriced in the table: publication, because 735 ILCS 5/21-103 requires notice in a newspaper of general circulation for three consecutive weeks but leaves the rate to the paper (in Cook County petitioners traditionally publish in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin), and the state vital-records charge for amending a birth certificate, which the Illinois Department of Public Health sets on its own schedule. The national picture is on the name change costs hub; compare Texas name change costs, California name change costs and Florida name change costs.

The rules behind the fee

Illinois name changes live in Article XXI of the Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS 5/21-101 et seq.). An adult petitioner must have lived in Illinois for at least six months; the verified petition states the current name, the requested name, the residence history and the reason for the change, and it must be notarised before filing. Publication under §21-103 is the step that makes Illinois slower than most states: the notice of the petition and hearing must run once a week for three consecutive weeks in a newspaper published in the county, with the first publication at least six weeks before the hearing in the standard pattern, and the petitioner files the newspaper's certificate of publication as proof. The statute and the statewide forms now build in safety valves — a petitioner who shows that publication would endanger them (for example because of domestic violence, stalking or gender-related safety concerns) can ask the court to waive publication and seal the record. A felony record does not automatically bar a change, but §21-103 imposes waiting periods and notice duties for petitioners with certain convictions, and those cases should be expected to draw a hearing and questions rather than a routine signature.

How the case runs

1. Complete the statewide Request for Name Change (adult) — adding the spouse/children forms if family members are changing too — and have the petition notarised
2. File with the circuit clerk in your county of residence (e-filing in Cook County's County Division) $388 in Cook County
3. Publish the notice once a week for three consecutive weeks in a county newspaper and obtain the certificate of publication — the newspaper bills you directly
4. Attend the hearing with your identification and the publication certificate; the judge signs the Order for Change of Name if the petition is granted
5. Buy certified copies of the order $6 each in Cook County and use them to update the Secretary of State (driver's licence/state ID), Social Security, passport and, if you want it amended, your Illinois birth record through the Department of Public Health

What a name change really costs beyond the clerk

The $388 filing fee is unusually large, but it is still not the whole bill. Publication is the second real cost and the least predictable: three weeks of legal-notice advertising is priced by the newspaper, varies widely between the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin and downstate papers, and cannot be quoted from any court schedule — budget for it by calling the paper the clerk directs you to. Notarisation of the petition is a small third cost, capped by Illinois's notary fee statute at a nominal per-signature charge. After the order, the costs are administrative rather than judicial: certified copies at $6 each (most people need two or three for the Secretary of State, Social Security and a bank), the Public Health charge if you amend an Illinois birth record, and the ordinary replacement fees other agencies charge for a new licence or passport — none of which are court costs and none of which are estimated here. Attorney fees are rarely necessary on the standard adult petition and, where used, are market-priced.

Can't afford the fee?

Illinois's Application for Waiver of Court Fees, under 735 ILCS 5/5-105, is judged on the statewide standards: filers receiving specified public benefits qualify, as do filers at or below 125% of the federal poverty guidelines, and a judge can waive fees where payment would cause substantial hardship even above that line. The waiver covers the clerk's $388; it does not pay the newspaper, which is worth asking the court about when you apply — a publication waiver request and a fee waiver request often travel together in hardship cases. See the fee waiver guide.

Sources: Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County — County Division Fee Schedule and Cook County name change instructions (filing fee $388; certified copy $6; sheriff's summons $50 plus mileage where required) · 735 ILCS 5/21-101 et seq. (Article XXI, Change of Name; six-month residency; §21-103 publication three consecutive weeks and waiver grounds) · Illinois Courts — Name Change approved statewide forms · 735 ILCS 5/5-105 (waiver of court fees). Last verified: October 2026 — confirm current figures with your circuit court clerk.