Many transgender people change their legal name and/or gender marker for their identification documents, including a driver’s license, birth certificate, passport, and more.
After your surgery, our office can provide a letter for a legal gender change anytime, stating you’ve had a surgical procedure related to your transition. Since requirements vary by state, ID type, and country, let us know if there is any specific language that needs to be included.
Note that for many US documents (such as your passport), you do not need to undergo hormone replacement therapy or gender confirming procedures to update your gender marker. All you need is a simple letter from your physician stating you’ve had “appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition.” “Clinical treatment” can refer to surgery, hormones, therapy, or any aspect of social transition, in many instances.
For more information, we recommend Trans Law Center’s Quick Guide (US only).
Important: You do not need a court-ordered gender change to change your California driver’s license, social security card, or U.S. passport. You also no longer need a court order to have a new birth certificate issued reflecting a change of gender (for California birth records). You may want to get a court ordered gender change to amend your birth certificate if you were born outside of California. Find out more at ID Please – A Guide to Changing California and Federal Identity Documents to Match Your Gender Identity or get help from the resources listed under “Related Information” on the Gender Change home page. You DO need a court order for a change of name. If you need to change your name AND gender, you can follow the instructions below, or you can instead change your gender with the State Registrar (without a court order) and separately get a court order for a name change only. To do that, visit the name change section. Generally, to get a court order changing your name AND gender, follow these steps:
Important: You do not need a court ordered gender change to change your California driver’s license, social security card, or U.S. passport. You also no longer need a court order to have a new birth certificate issued reflecting a change of gender (for California birth records). You may want to get a court ordered gender change to amend your birth certificate if you were born outside of California. Find out more at ID Please – A Guide to Changing California and Federal Identity Documents to Match Your Gender Identity or get help from the resources listed under “Related Information” on the Gender Change home page. Generally, to get a court order changing your gender ONLY (without a name change), follow these steps:
You will have to pay a filing fee. Find out how much the filing fee is for a first petition (sometimes called a “first appearance” or “first papers”). If you cannot afford the fee, you can ask for a fee waiver.
The court process of getting a court order after filing a Petition for Change of Name can take up to 3 months. First, you file your petition. Then, you will get a court date between 6 and 12 weeks away. If you follow all the required steps and the court approves your request, you will get a court order called a “decree” changing your name. Some courts are busier than others and it may take longer. Make sure you read the instructions carefully. Some apply a little differently if you are changing your name to conform to your gender identity, or in other special situations. It is all explained in each of the steps below, so make sure you read everything.
Filing a Petition for a Change of Name is the most common process and results in a court order. This section will walk you through the steps.
Important: You may not need an extra copy for the publication in the newspaper because you may not need to publish your name change request. Read Step 5 below carefully to find out if you need to publish your request in the newspaper.
The clerk will stamp your forms with “Filed,” keep the original and return the copies to you. The Order to Show Cause will have information on your court date, time, and department number.
You will have to pay a filing fee. Find out how much the filing fee is for a first petition (sometimes called a “first appearance” or “first papers”). If you cannot afford the fee, you can ask for a fee waiver.
In most cases, you must publish the Order to Show Cause for Change of Name (Form NC-120) in a newspaper of general circulation once a week for 4 weeks in a row. Your court most likely has a list of newspapers that are approved for publishing legal notices.
Important:
The cost for publication can vary greatly between newspapers and your court fee waiver will not waive your publication fees. So it is very important that you check the price of publishing BEFORE you put the name of the newspaper in the Order to Show Cause for Change of Name. This is because once the judge signs the Order to Show Cause for Change of Name you must publish in the newspaper listed on the form. You cannot change the form after it is signed by the judge.
If the judge approves your request for a change of name, the judge will sign the Decree Changing Name (Form NC-130). Once you get your signed decree, get a certified copy from the court clerk. You can use this to change all your legal documents, including your birth certificate, social security card, and other government-issued identification like your passport or driver’s license.
If you are a victim of domestic violence, click to learn more about keeping your change of name confidential or read Information Sheet for Name Change Proceedings Under Address Confidentiality Program (Safe at Home) (Form NC-400-INFO).
You do not need a court ordered gender change to change your California driver’s license, social security card, or US passport. You also no longer need a court order to have a new birth certificate issued reflecting a change of gender (for California birth records). You may want to seek a court ordered gender change to amend your birth certificate if you were born outside of California. Please see the section on Gender Change if you want to find out more about changing your name and gender, your gender only, or your name only to conform to your gender identity and want to find out all your options.
In some limited cases, the judge may not agree to change your name. Click to learn about the main reasons why your petition may be denied.
To learn more about what it means to change your gender marker to “X” or non-binary and the steps involved in this process, read our informational page on that topic. While we will try to keep that page updated with the list of states that allow for gender markers to be changed to non-binary, it may be out of date. Check out the self-help guide on gender marker changes created by the National Center for Transgender Equality to stay informed on how this process might shift based on where you live.