Florida Minor Name Change (Child Under 18)

Researched filing overview

Florida Minor Name Change Filing Overview

Who files and venue

a parent files the verified Petition for Change of Name (Minor Child) (form 12.982(c)) for a child under 18 in the circuit court of the Florida county where the petitioning parent lives. Both parents may file together as co-petitioners only if they agree and both live in the filing county; a consenting parent who lives elsewhere signs the written Consent (12.982(d)) instead. The petition is built for one petitioner and one child, with supplemental pages bound in for each additional child or petitioner — initial the bottom of every supplemental page. The filing fee is approximately $400 (most clerks $401), varying by county; a civil indigent fee-waiver application is available from the clerk.

Fingerprints and the other parent

each adult petitioner is fingerprinted electronically through an FDLE-authorized Livescan provider — the child is never fingerprinted — and the court may not set the hearing until the clerk receives the results, so allow several weeks and roughly $40-$75 per adult. A non-consenting parent with a known address is personally served with the Summons (12.910(a)) and Process Service Memorandum (12.910(b)) by a sheriff or process server — never by you. If you genuinely do not know where the other parent is, constructive service runs through the Affidavit of Diligent Search (12.913(b)) and a clerk-signed Notice of Action (12.913(a)(2)) published once a week for four consecutive weeks at your expense (the clerk posts instead if you are indigent) — the court's instructions urge consulting an attorney for that path, and your clerk can confirm whether your circuit uses a local notice form.

Hearing and after

file the petition, the consent or service proofs, the Cover Sheet (12.928 — check "Name Change"), and the Notice of Related Cases (12.900(h)); after the background-check results arrive, set the hearing and bring the Final Judgment (12.982(e)) with only the caption completed. If both living parents have not consented, the judge decides the child's best interests. Buy certified copies at the hearing; the clerk reports the judgment (for a Florida-born child, to the Bureau of Vital Statistics — you still apply and pay for the amended certificate; for a child born elsewhere, send a certified copy to that state's registrar), then update the child's Social Security record (free, form SS-5), school and medical records, and passport. A married family changing one shared name uses the court's family petition (12.982(f)/(g), free at flcourts.gov) instead.