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How much does a name change cost in Maryland?

Changing your legal name in Maryland costs a $165 filing fee in circuit court. A petition for change of name is a new civil proceeding, and the Revised Schedule of Charges, Costs and Fees to be Charged by the Clerks of the Circuit Courts — issued under Courts Article, §7-202 and effective September 2, 2026 — sets the initial filing fee for docketing a civil action or proceeding at $165 in its Part II.A.1(A). The schedule's own footnotes decompose that total: it includes a $55 Maryland Legal Services Corporation Fund surcharge and a $30 Circuit Court Real Property Records Improvement Fund surcharge, so the underlying clerk's filing fee is $80 and the two statewide surcharges make up the rest.

Maryland name change fees at a glance

Maryland name changes are filed in the circuit court for the county — or Baltimore City — where the petitioner lives, on the Judiciary's petition forms (CC-DR-60 for an adult, CC-DR-062 for a minor). Because the Revised Schedule applies uniformly in every circuit court — its scope section states that the charges in the schedule are uniform throughout the state — the $165 is the same in Montgomery County as on the Eastern Shore, unlike the county-built totals on this site's Minnesota pages. The schedule also shows what a name change is not charged as: the special $95 line for arbitration-award petitions, the $110 line for foreign judgments and certified foreign custody decrees, and the $300 additional fee for residential foreclosure filings all sit in Part II.A.1(B) and (D), and none of them reaches a change-of-name petition, which takes the general $165 line. The same $165 opens the custody case on this site's Maryland custody costs page. The national picture is on the name change costs hub.

Publication, and what the schedule does not price

A Maryland name change carries a step most civil filings do not: unless the court waives it, notice of the petition must be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the county before the court grants the change, so that anyone with an objection can be heard. The publication charge is set by the newspaper, not by the clerks' schedule, and it varies by paper and by the length of the notice — so this page names it without inventing a figure. The schedule's scope section is explicit about its own limits in the same way: it does not affect charges set by statute or rule, and it lists sheriffs' fees under Courts Article, §7-402 among the items outside the schedule. A name change petition ordinarily needs no sheriff service — there is no opposing party to serve — which is one reason its predictable cost is essentially the filing fee plus publication plus copies. After the order, certified copies run $0.50 per page plus a $5 certification fee each under Part II.I, and an exemplified copy adds $10 instead; budget for several, for Social Security, identification, passport and bank records.

How the case runs

1. File the petition for change of name in the circuit court where you live and pay the initial filing fee $165
2. Publish notice of the petition in a county newspaper of general circulation, unless the court waives publication — the newspaper sets that charge
3. The objection period runs; any person may file an objection for the court to consider
4. The court signs the order changing the name if the petition is granted
5. Order certified copies for your records $0.50/page + $5 each and update identification and accounts

What a name change really costs beyond the clerk

Beyond the $165, a Maryland name change's costs are the newspaper's publication charge and the price of replacing documents afterwards — a new passport carries the federal fee, a replacement licence the Motor Vehicle Administration's charge — plus an attorney's private rate if one prepares the petition. None of those figures is set by the circuit clerks' schedule, so this page names them without inventing amounts, the same discipline applied on this site's Florida name change costs and Minnesota name change costs pages. What a Maryland petitioner can predict exactly from the schedule is the court-side spine: $165 to file, $15 if the proceeding is voluntarily dismissed, $0.50 a page for copies and $5 to certify each one. The wider state picture is on the Maryland court costs guide.

Can't afford the fee?

The Revised Schedule preserves the court's authority to waive a charge or its prepayment: its scope section points to Courts Article, §7-201 and Maryland Rules 1-325(a) and 2-603(e), under which a petitioner who cannot afford the fee asks the court to waive prepayment on a showing of inability to pay, filed with the petition. A waiver reaches court charges; it does not pay the newspaper if publication is required and not separately waived. Ask the clerk for the waiver forms when the petition is filed. The general mechanics of fee waivers are explained in the fee waiver guide.

Sources: Revised Schedule of Charges, Costs and Fees to be Charged by the Clerks of the Circuit Courts under Courts Article, §7-202 (Maryland Judiciary, mdcourts.gov), effective September 2, 2026, read directly — Part II.A.1(A) $165 filing fee for docketing a civil action or proceeding; footnote 1, includes Maryland Legal Services Corporation Fund surcharge of $55; footnote 2, includes Circuit Court Real Property Records Improvement Fund surcharge of $30 for initial filings; Part II.A.1(B) special lines $95 / $31 / $110; Part II.B voluntary dismissal $15; Part II.I copies $0.50 per page, certification $5, exemplified copy $10; Part I scope (statewide uniformity; sheriffs' fees under §7-402 outside the schedule; waiver under §7-201 and Rules 1-325(a), 2-603(e)). Last verified: November 2026 — confirm current figures with the clerk of the circuit court.