Name Change After Divorce

A note before we begin: This content is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice.

Your Situation

If you're going through a Colorado divorce, you may want to go back to a name you used before the marriage — often your maiden name or another prior legal name. This is a common and completely ordinary part of ending a marriage, and Colorado law makes it relatively simple to handle, especially if you deal with it while your divorce is still in progress. You might also be thinking about changing a child's name, which is a separate and more involved process with different rules and a higher bar to clear.

The good news is that restoring your own prior name through the divorce itself is one of the more straightforward things you'll do in this whole process. The timing matters, though — it's much easier to ask for your name back as part of the divorce than to come back and do it later as a separate matter. This guide will walk you through how to get your name restored, what the court needs to grant it, and the practical steps of updating your identification and records afterward.

What the Law Requires

Colorado law lets you ask the court to restore a prior full name at any time after your divorce or legal separation decree is entered. To do this after the fact, you file a sworn motion and affidavit under the same case number in the court that issued your decree. That motion must include the case caption and case number, plus your sworn statement that restoring your prior name is not detrimental to any person.

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The court will order your name restored if it finds that a decree was entered in your case and that restoring your prior name harms no one.

Importantly, restoring your name does not change anything else about your divorce. Your property division, support obligations, and every other term of your decree stay exactly as they are — a name restoration only changes your name.

You can also request your name restoration right inside the divorce itself rather than waiting. The divorce petition has a place to request restoration of your prior full name, and the response has the same option. If you're converting a legal separation into a divorce, you can request it in that motion as well. In all of these, you'll be asked to confirm that the name change isn't meant to defraud creditors or injure anyone else.

Changing a child's name is governed by a different set of rules. For a child's name change, the court must specifically find that the change is in the child's best interest before granting it. There are also age-based requirements: the person filing on the child's behalf must be at least 18, and if the child is 14 or older, the filing must include a recent fingerprint-based criminal history check (dated within the last 90 days) and confirm the child has not been adjudicated of a felony. Where you file for a child's name change depends on whether there's already an open case involving that child — if there's an active child support, parental responsibilities, parenting time, or dependency case, it goes in the District Court where that case is pending; if there's no open case, it goes in the County Court where the child lives.

What Courts Typically Do

In practice, Colorado divorce courts routinely restore a spouse's former name on request, without making you go through the separate, standalone name-change process that applies to the general public. The standalone statutory process exists as an additional option, but it isn't required for restoring a name through a divorce. When you make the request as part of your divorce, the court or your attorney will typically ask you to confirm on the record that the change isn't to defraud creditors — a routine question that's generally easy to answer. The "not detrimental to any person" finding is the standard the court applies, and it's usually straightforward to satisfy for an adult restoring their own prior name.

Changing a child's name is a different story, and courts look harder at it. Because the standard is the child's best interest, judges weigh several specific factors: the motive and interests of the parent requesting it, how long the child has used their current name, how the change might affect the child's relationship with each parent, the child's own preference, and any misconduct by the other parent that might justify the change. The non-custodial parent is entitled to reasonable notice of the request and can attend the hearing and testify about their views. A trial court's decision on a child's name turns on these best-interest facts, and on appeal it's reviewed under a deferential standard — meaning these decisions are hard to overturn once made.

Step by Step: What to Do

1. Decide whether you want your prior name restored. If so, the easiest path by far is to handle it during your divorce rather than afterward.

2. Make the request as part of your divorce filing. Whether you're the one starting the case or responding to it, there's a built-in place to ask the court to restore your prior full name — you'll specify the exact first, middle, and last name you want. The guided wizard on this site will prepare and pre-fill the correct paperwork so this request is tied directly to your final decree.

3. Confirm it's not to defraud creditors. Be ready to state, on the record or in your paperwork, that the name restoration isn't intended to defraud creditors or harm anyone. This is routine.

4. Get the restoration included in your decree. When your divorce is finalized, the court makes a finding that the change is not detrimental to any person and includes the restored name in the decree. That decree becomes your proof of the name change.

5. If you didn't ask during the case, file afterward. If your divorce is already final and you didn't request restoration, you can still do it. You'll file a motion for name restoration (and a proposed order) in the same court that entered your decree. The guided wizard can prepare this paperwork for you as well.

6. Mind the fee-timing window. Colorado waives the filing fee for a name restoration if you request it within 60 days after the decree is signed. Wait longer than that and a filing fee applies — so if you're filing after the decree, move quickly.

7. Update your records after the decree is entered. Once you have your decree showing the restored name, use it to update your identification, Social Security records, financial accounts, and other documents. The specific agency-by-agency steps aren't detailed in the materials here, so contact each institution directly to learn what they require.

8. For a child's name change, follow the separate process. Confirm whether an existing case involves the child (which determines the correct court), gather the required documents (including a current criminal history check if the child is 14 or older), make sure the non-custodial parent gets proper notice, and be prepared to show why the change serves the child's best interest. The guided wizard can prepare the required filings.

What to Do Today

• Decide whether you want to restore a prior name as part of your divorce, and write down the exact first, middle, and last name you want back.
• Start the guided wizard so your name-restoration request is built into your divorce paperwork from the beginning — that's the simplest way to handle it.
• If your divorce is already final, check how many days ago your decree was signed, since filing within 60 days avoids a filing fee.
• Locate your decree or confirm where it will come from — it's the document you'll need to update all your other records.
• If a child's name is involved, find out whether there's an open court case involving that child, since that determines where you'd file.

Related Issues to Be Aware Of

The final hearing. Your name restoration gets built into the decree, which becomes final when it's entered. Understanding how the final hearing and decree work matters here, because in many cases final orders can be entered on a sworn affidavit without an in-person hearing when there's no real dispute — and your name request rides along with that decree.

Understanding and implementing your order. Once your name is restored, it's part of a court decree, not just a private agreement. Knowing how your order gets enforced and carried out helps you understand that your decree — including the name restoration — is a court judgment you can rely on when updating your records with other institutions.