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

Changing your name by court petition in Oregon costs a $124 filing fee, charged by the circuit court of the county where you live under the Oregon Judicial Department's current fee schedule. That is notably cheaper than opening an ordinary civil case in Oregon, which costs $281 — a name change petition has its own, lower line in the schedule. Add $5.50 for each certified copy of the signed judgment, which is the document Social Security, the DMV, banks and passport authorities will actually ask to see. And if your name change comes with a marriage or a divorce, it costs nothing at all, because no separate petition is needed.

Oregon name change fees at a glance

The $124 figure is the filing fee in the Oregon Judicial Department's current (2026) Circuit Court Fee Schedule and in the Department's own name change guidance and Identity Record Change packets, which state the fee and the $5.50 certified copy charge together. The comparison rows are statutory: ORS 21.135(1) sets the standard circuit court filing fee at $281 for civil proceedings without a specific fee, and subsection (3)(a) sets adoption at $263 — the figures this site verified for the Oregon adoption costs page. Name change sits below both because the fee schedule gives the ORS chapter 33 proceeding its own price. Oregon also does not build a newspaper-publication step into the adult petition process described in the Judicial Department's packet, which removes the publication bill that makes name changes expensive in states like Illinois and Pennsylvania. The national comparison is on the name change costs hub and the wider state picture on the Oregon court costs guide.

The ORS chapter 33 procedure

Standalone name changes in Oregon are governed by ORS 33.410 to 33.440. An adult petitions the circuit court of the county where they reside; a parent or guardian petitions for a minor. The petition states the petitioner's current name, the proposed name, and the required disclosures the form calls for, and is filed with a proposed General Judgment for the judge to sign. In many counties a complete, unobjected-to petition is approved on the papers without a hearing; where the court sets a hearing, it is ordinarily short and concerns the disclosures on the form — identity, residency and whether the change is sought for an improper purpose such as evading debts or obligations. When the judge signs and the court enters the General Judgment, the change is legally effective from entry. That judgment, not the petition, is the proof: the certified copies you order at $5.50 each are certified copies of the judgment, and you will want several, because each agency keeps or inspects one as you update Social Security records, your driver licence, passport, bank and employer records.

The two routes that cost nothing

A large share of Oregon name changes never touch the $124 petition. On marriage, each spouse states on the marriage licence application the name they will use after the ceremony, and the issued marriage certificate is itself legal proof of the new name — agencies accept it directly, with no court filing. On divorce, either spouse may ask the divorce judgment to restore a former name, and the court orders the restoration in the judgment itself; a spouse who forgot to ask can still return to the divorce court rather than starting an unrelated case in many circumstances, and the Oregon divorce costs page covers the $301 first-appearance fee that case carries. The standalone petition is therefore mainly for changes unconnected with marriage or divorce — a long-wanted new first name, a family name change for a child outside an adoption, or aligning documents after other life events. For a child, an adoption changes the name inside the adoption judgment itself, at the $263 fee above, with certificates included.

How the case runs

1. Check first whether marriage or divorce paperwork will carry the change for free; if not, obtain the Judicial Department's Identity Record Change packet for adults or minors
2. Complete the petition under ORS 33.410 and the proposed General Judgment, and file them with the circuit court clerk in your county of residence, paying the filing fee $124
3. Attend a hearing if the court sets one; otherwise the judge reviews the petition on the papers
4. When the General Judgment is signed and entered, order certified copies for agency updates $5.50 each
5. Update Social Security first, then the DMV, passport, banks and employer records, using the certified judgment as proof

What a name change really costs beyond the clerk

Oregon's process is unusually free of the usual add-ons: the Judicial Department's packet includes no publication step, and there is no fingerprint-check fee built into an ordinary adult petition of the kind some states impose. The realistic extras are the certified copies ($5.50 each, and most people order three to five), replacement documents themselves — a new passport or licence carries that agency's own fee, which is not a court cost and is not priced here — and, for a minor's change, any required service on a non-consenting parent, charged by the server. Attorney fees are rarely necessary for an uncontested petition and are market-priced where used. The court-side figures you can predict exactly are $124 to file and $5.50 per certified copy. Compare publication-heavy states in Illinois name change costs and Pennsylvania name change costs.

Can't afford the fee?

Oregon circuit courts can defer or waive the filing fee under ORS 21.682 for a petitioner whose income falls within the standards the statute and the Judicial Department's application apply; the Department publishes a Fee Deferral or Waiver Application and Declaration for exactly this purpose, and where a fee is deferred rather than waived the court's guidance provides for payment arrangements (deferred fees can be collected in instalments of at least $25 per month under the Department's published guidance). File the application with the petition rather than after it, so the clerk can open the case while the request is decided. The general mechanics are explained in the fee waiver guide.

Sources: Oregon Judicial Department, Circuit Court Fee Schedule (2026) and Identity Record Change packets / name change guidance (courts.oregon.gov) — petition filing fee $124; certified copy of the judgment $5.50 · ORS 33.410–33.440 (name change procedure) · ORS 21.135(1) (standard filing fee $281) and 21.135(3)(a) (adoption $263), official text at oregonlegislature.gov · ORS 21.682 (fee deferral and waiver). Last verified: October 2026 — confirm current figures with your circuit court clerk.