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Changing Your Name in King County


        WHAT IS THIS GUIDE



        This guide is intended first and foremost for trans people, but others
may find it useful. The guide is a set of step-by-step instructions for how to
change your name everywhere that it appears. This guide is focused on
legal/financial/bureaucratic name updates, rather than on things like your
email, your social media, or your voicemail.

This guide is written assuming that you both live in King County and were born
somewhere in Washington State. If you were not born in Washington, then the
birth certificate sections will not apply. Other counties in Washington will
follow a broadly similar structure but have different filing systems for the
initial claim (for instance, in Pierce County, the initial court filing must be
done in person).

        The authors of this guide aren't experts or lawyers. If you have
suggestions for improving this guide, or if you've discovered part of it is out
of date or incorrect, please let us know using this form.




ORDER OF OPERATIONS



        This order ensures that you’re never “bounced back” by an agency saying
you haven’t completed the correct steps, and additionally minimizes the number
of trips you’ll physically need to take anywhere.



 1.  Court Order and Date ($350) OR Sealed Court Order and Date ($310)
 2.  Social Security Administration ($20)
 3.  DMV ($100)
 4.  Employer (potentially insurance, if the same)
 5.  Bank (also: vehicle registration and notarized documents, i.e. birth
     certificate)
 6.  Health Insurance
 7.  Health Records & Pharmacy
 8.  Vehicle Insurance
 9.  Birth Certificate ($25)
 10. Passport (~$160, this may be done as soon as your new ID arrives in the
     mail)
 11. Diplomas, Licenses, & Certificates
 12. Credit reporting agencies

        


DO YOU WANT A SEALED NAME CHANGE?



         If you feel that you are at risk of violence or harassment by people
who only know you by your old name, a sealed name change is prudent and almost
certainly worth the trouble. A sealed name change might prove to be a speed bump
to future government action against people who have had legal name changes,
especially those outside of Washington state. Some people cannot obtain a sealed
name change; read the paperwork linked in 1Alt.b for more details. See below for
a full table of pros and cons.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------





Pros

Cons

Normal

Only one physical trip to the courthouse



Court staff are more likely to know how to help you



Easier to waive fees (unknown)

Public records requests by others can reveal your deadname

Sealed

Oddly, slightly cheaper



Public records requests by others cannot reveal your name change



More control over your court date



The judge will deadname you in front of fewer people

You must present valid ID for your old name or new name to obtain proof of your
name change



Requires three trips to the courthouse in person






 1. COURT ORDER




 1. NAME CHANGE PETITION



        The petition form for a name change is just one page long. Even though
it asks for a reason, you do not have to go into detail. The judge may ask you
about it if they are feeling chatty, and once you’re under oath you do have to
answer them, so Beans advises you to write something boring.

        The form also asks for a petition number that you won’t have at the time
of filling it out. Don’t worry about it - leave it blank - the court will assign
you one later and write it in themselves.




 2. FILING THE PETITION



The filing takes place entirely online through the King County e-file system.
You will create an account and select that you’d like to e-file a Name Change
Petition. This is where you’ll upload your petition and a scan of your legal ID.

The e-filing will also ask for various supplemental documents and as of
September 2023, that field had a red “required” asterisk. These supplemental
documents are not required and the page will progress without uploading one.
Just ignore it.

Fortunately the fees associated with this step can be waived if you cannot
afford them. The filing costs $98 and the petition in court costs $204, for a
total of $302. Beans was able to afford these fees and is not familiar with the
process for this waiver form. Since these are separate fees, she is unsure if
you need to submit two waivers or lump them together into one.




 3. COURT DATE



        You will be assigned a court date and you cannot influence when it is,
but you can roughly predict it. Legally, court dates must be at least thirty
days from when your petition is processed, but since this type of petition
doesn’t get backlogged, it’ll be very close to thirty days after you file.
Additionally, name change court takes place on Mondays and Wednesdays, so you
can roughly predict your court date to be the Monday or Wednesday 31-35 days
after you file.

You’ll have to go through a security checkpoint whichever courthouse you’re
going to, so plan accordingly. Ask the staff there where to go - in the Seattle
courthouse on 3rd Avenue, it’ll be the third floor. Likely you’ll have to check
in at a help window before going to the courtroom.

        This step is mostly boring. The judge will have to “confirm your
identity” by deadnaming you (in front of whoever else is changing their name
that day) when you are called up to the stand when it’s your turn. You’ll be
asked to confirm that you aren’t changing your name to cover for any crime,
they’ll ask you to confirm the spelling, they’ll give you the original name
change order document and then you’re free to leave.

        Before you leave the courthouse, go back to the help window and request
additional original copies. Nevermind the irony of “multiple original copies”.
Get at least 5 copies of the document because there’s no assurance that any
given entity will return the forms afterward. Each copy costs $5.




 1.  SEALED COURT ORDER




 1. PREAMBLE

        

        This guide is a bit more speculative than the normal name change guide.
At various points through the process of changing her name, it became clear that
some court staff were unaware of the law allowing sealed name changes for gender
identity/expression purposes, and that few enough people choose this route that
they aren't used to the forms. There may be ways to submit some of these forms
online, or request fee waivers, but Storygirl doesn't have enough experience to
help with either of those things.




 2. NAME CHANGE PETITION AND FILING IN PERSON



        The petition form for a sealed name change is a little bit longer than
the unsealed version. You'll need to assert that you are changing your name for
reasons related to gender expression or identity, or domestic violence. There
are a few other attestations required of you that you should read in the linked
document. There may be ways to file this form online, but this PDF is not form
fillable, and you'll have to go elsewhere for instructions. If you want to
follow this guide, print and fill out this form (make sure to print single
sided!) and make a copy. Keep that copy for later! Don't fill out the Order for
Sealed Name Change - the judge will do that at the end of this process. You
don't need to fill in the petition number - they'll do that at the courthouse
when you file the petition.  

        You'll want to bring the original form to the Superior Court of King
County, which is here. There's another one in Kent, which likely follows the
same procedures outlined here. See 1.c. for info about the security checkpoint
above. You'll need to go to the Superior Court Clerk's Office - if you ask the
information desk for help, they may erroneously attempt to direct you to
District Court. Ideally, you'll pay the $260 fee in cash to avoid a $6
convenience fee, but they do take most credit cards. The clerk should give a
case number, make absolutely sure to keep track of this. You may want to keep
the receipt handy for your court date as well.




 3. SCHEDULING A COURT DATE

        

        Once you've handed the clerk the petition and paid the fee, the clerk
should also give you a copy of a "NOTICE OF COURT DATE - EX PARTE - SEA
COURTHOUSE ONLY" form. Before you can submit this form, you'll need to visit
the Ex-Parte Scheduling Website. You'll need to enter your case number here, and
you'll have an opportunity to select a date for your hearing, which must be at
1:30 PM on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, and must be at least nine
business days in the future (not counting holidays). This is subject to the
court's availability, so you may need to book it further in the future than
that. Storygirl only needed to book two weeks out.

        Once you've selected a day on the website and received a confirmation
email, fill out the "Notice of Court Date" form. The name of your case should be
"IN RE: ___", where ___ is your deadname. The form includes a box for "Fill out
for each party who needs to be informed about this court date". Since this is
not a normal ex-parte court case where you are suing someone else, you don't
need to fill this part out.




 4. COURT DATE



        You'll need to go through the security checkpoint again, and you should
bring your documents (copies of the forms you've filed, plus a photo id) with
you, just in case. Unlike in the district court instructions, the people at the
help desk probably can't help you find your courtroom. Since your name change
will be sealed, they don't put your case on the list of cases appearing in
Superior Court on the screens, so that can't tell you what courtroom you're in.
For the same reason, phone support people can't tell you which courtroom your
case is in, but they can tell you which courtroom Ex Parte cases are heard in.
In Storygirl's case it was W325 on the third floor .

If you want greater reassurance you're in the right place, and your case is on
the docket, you'll need to go to the Superior Court Clerk's office, to the
records desk. Since your case will be at 1:30 and the records office is closed
from 12:00-1:15, you may want to show up before 12:00 so you have more than 15
minutes to talk to the records office and get to your courtroom. You'll need to
provide them the case number and a photo id.

Actually being in the courtroom is pretty boring. The judge will have to
“confirm your identity” by deadnaming you. Unlike in the non-sealed process, the
only people who will be present for this step are court staff and anyone you
bring with you as a guest. You'll have to verbally repeat the same attestations
you did on your petition form. In Storygirl's case, the court staff said they'd
lost her petition form - that's why you should make a copy and bring it on the
day of your hearing.




 5. DOCUMENTATION



        Unlike in the non-sealed process, you can't get copies of the court
order for your name change the day of your name change. You'll need to wait
until the following afternoon before returning to the Superior Court Clerk's
Office records desk to present your ID and case number again. Each certified
copy costs $7 ($5 plus $1 for each page), but you'll want the certified copies
since people like the Social Security Administration don't want uncertified
ones. This is analogous to the "original" copies in the non-sealed process.




 2. SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION



        You then must go to the Social Security Office in person to update your
federal name records. Again, security checkpoint at the federal building. Again,
ask the guards what floor - they are generally bored enough to be helpful.

        The name change form is the same form as requesting a replacement social
security card, simply called an “application”. All you need to bring is this
form (they also have printed copies at the office to be filled out onsite), a
non-expired ID, and your name change order document. They can also update your
sex marker in the same process. While Washington State allows for and X in
addition to M and F, as do passports, the social security is currently
restricted to M and F.

        You’ll get a ticket and wait in line like the DMV. Despite what some
places on Social Security's website may say, you cannot set up an appointment
ahead of time for this kind of card change, and you can't do it online. There
are multiple tickets with multiple different lines - ask someone which one is
correct. Yours truly got the wrong ticket at first and was given a wait time of
2-3 hours, until she asked a guard who told her to get a different ticket with a
wait time of 20 minutes. The actual time to complete the form with the worker is
about 5 minutes, and they’ll send a new, corrected card to your address in 2-3
weeks. Their computers will be updated in a matter of days.

        You can complete this on the same day as your court date, but expect
that those two will together take your whole day.






 3. THE DMV



It’s time to get an actual ID! There are no forms to fill out in advance but you
do need to make an appointment. Select the “renew or replace ID” appointment
type.

Bring your current valid ID (or, no longer “current” but the same one you’ve
already been using) along with the name change order and the copy of the form
that the social security office gave you as proof of update.

The timing here is a little fuzzy because you can only get a new ID once the
social security computer system is up to date with your new name and there is no
easy way to know this directly, unless you already have an account with the
Social Security Administration. It will definitely be updated by the time you
receive your new card in the mail, but that could be as long as three weeks,
while the computer updates happen in a matter of days. Beans waited one week
with no hurdles, but she has heard stories of people who went on the same day as
their Social Security visit and were turned away. Anywhere more than three
business days later should be fine, but you can be extra safe and wait until you
have the physical card.

        They’ll need a new picture, which they can take in the moment, and you
can also update your gender marker to M/F/X at the same time. If you own a
vehicle, this is where you’ll update the vehicle registration as well, which
requires no additional forms. Knowing the make, model and license plate is
enough.

        They’ll punch your now-old ID to invalidate it and give you a temporary
one while they send you the real one in the mail. Buy your booze ahead of time
because stores won’t take temporaries.




 4. EMPLOYER



Do this only once you have your new ID. YMMV based on your employer. Talk to
coworkers if anyone has done it before, but generally just make sure they
actually update your name at the deepest levels, not just nametags. Paystubs and
HR systems have to change over or else it might cause some trouble with the bank
(so initiate this change the day after you get paid to give yourself time).

If you are insured through your employer, you will likely need to give them a
scan or copy of your name change court order along with a scan of your new ID,
so they can update your insurance registration. In general though, once your
employer submits the forms to the insurer, you should just call the insurer
yourself to make sure the process is moving along. The author’s insurance had
been updated for a month before she had any notice that it was, because the
employer did it right but the insurance provider never sent an update to anyone.



 5. Bank



Do this after you update your employment records, but do it immediately after.
This is where the chain of events turns into more of a spiderweb. The bank can
help you knock out three things at once, so bring a great big pile of forms and
be very friendly to the clerk because you’re going to proudly derail their
afternoon.

Bring everything you’ve gotten so far because who knows! It might be useful.
This includes new ID, old ID, name change order, social security proof of update
(or card), new vehicle registration, and your birth certificate update form and
the sex designation change form. The reason to bring the last two is that the
sex designation change form needs to be notarized by a Notary Public (whatever
the hell that is) but banks will notarize documents for you for free.

The clerk will be able to help you know out the following:

 * Updating account names
 * Getting new credit or debit cards
 * Updating any loans (the author was paying off her car)
 * Notarizing the forms for birth certificates
 * You may or may not need your spouse present if you are updating names on a
   joint account
 * Getting some cash, because your new cards may not be ready immediately

        As previously stated, you’re going to derail this clerk’s day, but they
are on the clock and you are not. Knock it all out at once so you don’t go three
separate times like Beans did.

        In the event that a bank you have a bank account at makes it
unreasonably difficult to get a name change (this is more likely to be an issue
if your bank doesn't have a physical location in your city), then you may find
it much easier to close your bank account and open a new one under your new name
at a new bank.

Storygirl recommends against this approach for credit card companies because
having closed credit cards under your old name that are still important to your
credit history can be extremely problematic in step 12, credit bureaus. In the
event that a credit card company rejects your name change request, doesn't
acknowledge they have received it, or otherwise becomes unduly difficult, you'll
want to file a CFPB complaint.






 6. HEALTH INSURANCE



Again, YMMV. See how it shakes out based on your employer and your insurer.




 7. HEALTH RECORDS AND PHARMACY



Do this once you have confirmed that your insurance is up to date and you have
all the new cards, etc.

You might think that these systems are linked to each other and to insurance,
but you’d be wrong. Email or call your doctor’s office to tell them to update
your medical records, and then separately call your pharmacy or talk to them in
person to update your name in their system. Some doctor's offices will make this
easy, others will want you to physically come in with a copy of your court
order. Beans continued to pick up medication under her deadname for more than
six months after her insurance was updated because these systems don’t
auto-update and she was being lazy.




 8. VEHICLE INSURANCE, RENTER'S INSURANCE, HOME INSURANCE, AND OTHER
    MISCELLANEOUS INSURANCE

        

Just a reminder to do this if you have any of the above.




 9. BIRTH CERTIFICATE



This will vary significantly by state. In some states, this isn't possible for
trans people. In Washington, you’ll fill out the two forms above (birth
certificate update form and sex designation change form) and notarize them, then
mail them along with an original of the name change court order to:



Center for Health Statistics

P.O. Box 47814

Olympia, WA 98504-7814



If you would like a copy of your corrected birth certificate, and Beans
recommends you get one, also include a copy of the order form and a check for
$25 made to “DOH”.




 10. PASSPORT / PASSPORT CARD



https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/have-passport/change-correct.html

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/need-passport/selecting-your-gender-marker.html

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/how-apply/fees.html



        You will need to also get a photo taken. Many post offices and print
shops offer this service, so look online and you’ll find one. You'll need to
include a check payable to the US Department of State or a money order. You'll
want to double check how much money you'll need to enclose using the form in the
last link above - it'll depend on a few factors, but shouldn't be more than $160
unless you need it on a deadline. The passport card is an additional fee within
the same paperwork.




 11. DIPLOMAS, CERTIFICATIONS AND PROFESSIONAL LICENSES



Godspeed. If you get to this point, you’re a godsdamned hero.




 12. CREDIT REPORTING AGENCIES (EQUIFAX, EXPERIAN, TRANSUNION)



I've heard reports that for some people this just happened magically after
updating your name with your credit card company, but this certainly wasn't the
case for Storygirl. Nevertheless, this is step 12, not because it is less
important than updating your diploma, but because it might happen on its own
after you complete step 5. Each of the credit bureaus has their own process,
often poorly documented online.



 1. Create an account with Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian if you don't have
    one already. Be careful while doing this not to sign up for paid products!
 2. Request a copy of your credit report from each bureau. Keep these copies
    around, so you can confirm that no accounts got lost/altered after the name
    change.
 3. Confirm that each credit report has your new legal name (it probably won't)
    and all credit cards, loans, and other credit-relevant items.
 4. If a credit card, loan, or similar is missing, go back and make sure that
    your name has been updated with that institution. If they claim it has been
    changed already, or can't give you a timeline or process for updating it,
    file a CFPB complaint.
 5. If the credit report has your old name on it, follow the credit bureaus
    process for updating it. If you send in documentation by mail, it may be
    worth the $5 to send it certified, so you can confirm they received it if
    they deny it later. if you send in documentation by fax, it may be worth
    getting a receipt for the same reason.

 1. Equifax guide
 2. Experian guide, Storygirl's experience is that the upload tool is broken
 3. TransUnion guide






SUCCESSES



All of these lovely people have updated their legal documents using this guide.
If you want your alias (not your legal name) on this list, use this form.



 * Beans
 * Storygirl