Name Change

Reno Name Change Attorneys

Nevada State and Federal Law allows a person to change his or her name for any reason, except to evade the law or creditors. However, completing the name change process in Nevada is not as simple as signing a form and appearing before a judge.

Your name is your most important possession. There are many legitimate, deeply personal reasons why you might choose to change it: Marriage or divorce, honoring a relationship, establishing a connection to your religious views, bringing your name into harmony with your identity, signifying the beginning of some new phase in your life or simply to reclaim your racial heritage. We understand how much thought you put into the decision to change it.

Barber Law Group is here to help you navigating the system with experienced legal counsel, which can make the process so much easier.

The Nevada Name Change Process

There are small but critical number of steps in the process of achieving a name change in Nevada:

• File a petition (via the appropriate forms) with the court to request a name change hearing.
• Submit a criminal history assessment form, if the Court requires one.
• Publish the petition in the local newspaper.
• Attend the court hearing bearing all required forms, documentation & paperwork. Your attorney will help you with all the forms and appear with you in court.

Once the court has approved your name change, there are many other agencies who you will need to contact, in order to change all your public records. Everything bearing your name, including your:

• Social Security Card
• State issued Driver’s License
• Birth certificate
• Passport
• Immigration documents,
• Military or Selective Service records
• School records & transcripts
• Financial reports and Banking info
• Credit data at all three credit bureaus.

Barber Law Group will help you complete all the required paperwork, file all the necessary forms and contact all the appropriate agencies.

Adoption & Name Change in Reno

If you’re a stepparent who wants to adopt your spouse’s children, bless your heart. First, you will need to go to court and petition for the adoption, then a social worker, family therapist or other court appointed investigator will interview you and your spouse, and perhaps the children as well. A background and criminal investigation might also be ordered.

A Notice of Action must be served to the other birth parent. Under most circumstances, they need to consent to the adoption. However, should the other parent not consent, you might still obtain a Stepparent Adoption if there is evidence of abandonment. Has the absentee parent seen or talked to the child in over a year, or not paid any child support?

Nevada Law stipulates that if a child is at least twelve years old and in possession of their faculties (not mentally handicapped), they must give their consent for the adoption, as well.

Agency Adoption, Independent Adoption and International Adoption

If you wish to adopt a child but you are not the stepparent (or domestic partner) of one of the child’s living parents, these processes are available to you. Please bare in mind that they are quite a bit more complicated than a simple Stepparent Adoption. The Court must legally sever the parental rights of both birth parents, should either still be alive. This is not something it will do without an excellent case being made by you and your attorney.

Having the experienced legal council of local Reno attorneys at Barber Law Group, advising and guiding you through all the intricacies involved in these proceedings, can make all the difference in the world.

Family Name Change for Children

You might also want to change the family name of a spouse’s child from a previous relationship, to your own family name. Both you and your spouse must file the case together. If only one parent desires the child’s the name change, you need to publish the proposed Order in a local newspaper, as well as serve notice on the other parent. Service of Process and Proof of Publication need to be handled in strict accordance to State and Local statues. At Barber Law Group, a lawyer who is well experienced in all the rules governing name changes will be with you through this entire process, even appearing with you in court to ensure your success.

Please bear in mind that a name change is not an adoption. Simply changing a child’s last name will not end the parental rights of the birth parent, nor grant those rights to the person whose name the child takes.

The Family Law attorneys at the Reno office of Barber Law Group routinely acquire children’s name changes as an integral part of their work on adoptions. Don’t go into this alone. Contact our office at 775-322-6464 for more information.