Home › Name change costs › North Carolina

How much does a name change cost in North Carolina?

Changing your legal name in North Carolina costs $120 in court costs. A name change under Chapter 101 of the General Statutes is filed with the clerk of superior court as a special proceeding, and N.C.G.S. §7A-306(a) fixes the costs of every special proceeding at three components: $106 for support of the General Court of Justice, $10 for the use of the courtroom and related judicial facilities, and $4 for court telecommunications and data connectivity — $120 in total. It is the same $120 schedule line that opens the guardianship proceeding on this site's North Carolina guardianship costs page, because both cases run through the clerk's special proceedings docket.

North Carolina name change fees at a glance

Section 7A-306(b) splits the $120 by timing rather than by amount: the facilities fee and $30 of the General Court of Justice fee are payable when the proceeding is initiated, and the balance is assessed as part of the proceeding's costs. One line in the section does not reach a name change: subsection (a)(2) adds a value-based charge — thirty cents per $100 of value, capped at $200 — only in proceedings involving land, and a change of name involves no land, so the flat $120 is the whole statutory total. The section's list of additional assessable expenses in subsection (c) is the honest boundary of the page: witness fees, counsel fees as provided by law, sheriff's fees for personal service, publication costs and the fees of guardians ad litem and other court appointees are recoverable when incurred, at amounts set elsewhere — a routine adult name change normally incurs none of them beyond the background-check and notice steps Chapter 101 requires, which are priced by the agencies and newspapers involved, not by §7A-306. The national picture is on the name change costs hub.

Why a name change sits with the clerk, not a judge's civil docket

North Carolina routes name changes through the clerk of superior court because Chapter 101 makes the application a special proceeding: the applicant files a verified application in the county of residence, shows the good and sufficient reason the chapter requires, and — for most adult applicants — supports it with the character affidavits and the state and federal background-check results the statute calls for. That procedural home is what sets the price. A civil action in district or superior court is priced under G.S. 7A-305 instead, at $150 or $200, as the custody page linked below shows; the special proceeding under §7A-306 is $120. The same clerk's office that takes the name change application also takes the estate filings priced on this site's North Carolina probate costs page — probate is a special proceeding too, although estates add the separate value charge of G.S. 7A-307 that a name change never meets. A motion inside the name change proceeding, if one is needed, carries the $20 notice-of-hearing fee under §7A-306(g), charged once per motion however often the hearing is continued.

How the case runs

1. Prepare the verified application under Chapter 101 with the required affidavits and background-check results
2. File the application with the clerk of superior court in your county of residence as a special proceeding and pay the costs $120
3. Post or publish the notice the clerk directs so interested persons can be heard
4. The clerk hears the application and, if the statutory showing is made, signs the order changing the name
5. Obtain certified copies of the order and update Social Security, identification, passport and bank records

What a name change really costs beyond the clerk

The $120 is the whole court-side price for most North Carolina applicants, but it is not the whole errand. The state and federal fingerprint background checks Chapter 101 requires are priced by the State Bureau of Investigation and the FBI channeler that processes them; the notice step is priced by the newspaper or posting process the clerk directs; a replacement birth certificate from Vital Records and new identification documents carry their issuers' fees; and an attorney, if hired, charges privately. None of those amounts is fixed by §7A-306, so this page names them without inventing figures — the same discipline applied on this site's Ohio name change costs and Texas name change costs pages. What an applicant can predict exactly is the clerk's spine: $120 in costs, $40 of it payable at initiation, and a $20 fee if a noticed motion is filed. The wider state picture is on the North Carolina court costs guide.

Can't afford the fee?

North Carolina courts can relieve an indigent applicant of advance court costs: G.S. 7A-305(c) states the clerk collects advance costs "except in suits by an indigent," and the same principle is applied through the indigency process for proceedings before the clerk, on a sworn showing of inability to pay. Ask the clerk's office about the indigent application when the name change is filed — the waiver decision belongs to the court, not the counter. The general mechanics of fee waivers are explained in the fee waiver guide.

Sources: N.C.G.S. §7A-306, official text at ncleg.gov, read directly — (a)(2) General Court of Justice $106, (a)(1) facilities $10, (a)(1a) telecommunications $4, total $120; (a)(2) additional value charge only in proceedings involving land; (b) facilities fee and $30 of the General Court of Justice fee payable at initiation; (c) additional assessable expenses (witness, counsel, sheriff, publication, appointees) as provided by law; (g) notice of hearing on a motion $20 · N.C.G.S. ch. 101 (name change by application to the clerk of superior court) · N.C.G.S. §7A-305(c) (advance costs excepted in suits by an indigent). Last verified: November 2026 — confirm current figures with the clerk of superior court.