Changing your name in Texas
Changing your name in Texas runs through Texas Department of Public Safety. The table below is what the agency itself publishes — what it charges, what it wants to see, and whether you have to turn up in person — with the date we last checked each one. Social Security comes first, before any of it — it is the record most licensing agencies check your new name against, so doing it first is what keeps the counter visit to one trip.
To change your name on a Texas driver license or state ID you apply through Texas Department of Public Safety.
Update Social Security first — it is the record most licensing agencies check your new name against, and several states require the update before they will issue.
Texas charges $11.00.
Texas asks you to do it within 30 days.
You have to go in person — the counter takes a new photograph.
What Texas Department of Public Safety requires
Read off the agency’s own pages. The date beside each row is the day we last checked it — a government fee with no date on it is worth very little.
| What | Value | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agency | Texas Department of Public Safety | Texas Department of Public Safety — name change | |
| Form | DL-14A — Texas Driver License or Identification Card Application | Form DL-14A | |
| Fee | $11.00 Replacement license or ID $11. Your expiry date does not change. | Fee schedule | |
| Deadline | 30 days | Texas Department of Public Safety — name change | |
| In person? | Required | Texas Department of Public Safety — name change |
What to bring to the Texas counter
- If your name changed by marriage: one original or certified document — a marriage license, a divorce decree, an annulment, or a Department of State Health Services marriage verification letter
- If it changed any other way: one original or certified document — a certified court order, an amended birth certificate, or a Certificate of Naturalization (form N-550, N-570 or N-578). DPS’s own word for the court order is "certified"
- Your current Texas license or ID card
Source: Texas Department of Public Safety · checked
The sequence that works in Texas
Almost every failed name change is a sequencing failure — somebody at the counter before the records caught up.
- Do Social Security first — it’s the record most agencies check against, so getting it done first is what keeps the rest in step. A few states require it outright and say so on their own page.
- Apply at Texas Department of Public Safety once Social Security has updated, which usually takes a day or two.
- Update your passport. Which form applies depends on when yours was issued.
- Update your vehicle title and registration, usually at the same counter.
- Update your voter registration, then your bank, employer, insurers and utilities.
What catches people out in Texas
- Texas treats a name change as a replacement (duplicate) license. Visit any driver license office within 30 days.
- Schedule an appointment first. DPS routes anyone changing information on the card away from the online replacement path and tells them to book at a local driver license office.
- REAL ID is not a choice you make on the form. DPS: "All original, renewal or replacement driver license and identification cards issued, will now have a star to indicate they are Real ID compliant." Texas has issued compliant cards since 10 October 2016, and the star sits in the top right corner.
- Your document must be an original or a certified copy, and photocopies are refused. DPS says certified documents should not be laminated. A document that is not in English needs a certified English translation with it.
- Texas’s own list says "marriage license". We draw a line between the license, signed before the ceremony, and the certificate, which is the record issued after it — DPS does not say which it means, so take the certified certificate, and bring the license too if you have both.
Source: Texas Department of Public Safety · checked
There’s an official form behind this in Texas, and it’s one of the ones our kit fills in from your answers rather than handing you blank.
Where your document comes from in Texas
Every agency in the sequence wants the original or a certified copy. Where you get one depends on which document you hold, and it is one of the few things that genuinely differs from state to state.
| What | Value | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marriage certificate | From the county that issued your marriage license Texas states plainly that certified copies of marriage licenses are available only from the county clerk. The state can issue a verification letter confirming a marriage was recorded, and says explicitly that this is not a legal substitute for the license. | County Clerk | |
| Cost of a copy | Set per county. Texas publishes no statewide figure. | County Clerk | |
| Decree or court order | District Court, via the District Clerk Texas district courts have original jurisdiction over divorce, and each county's District Clerk is the record custodian who provides certified copies of a decree. | Texas courts |
If you married or divorced in a different state, order from that state rather than this one. The record sits where the event was filed, not where you live now.
Whichever way your name changed
The Texas paperwork is the same three steps whatever authorized the change. What differs is which document you take to the counter.
Changing your name after marriage
Take your marriage certificate to Texas Department of Public Safety.
- In Texas, a certified marriage certificate comes from the county that issued your marriage license — County Clerk.
- Set per county. Texas publishes no statewide figure.
- Texas states plainly that certified copies of marriage licenses are available only from the county clerk. The state can issue a verification letter confirming a marriage was recorded, and says explicitly that this is not a legal substitute for the license.
Changing your name after divorce
Take your divorce decree to Texas Department of Public Safety.
- A divorce decree only changes your name if it contains a clause naming a former name and restoring it to you. Ending the marriage does not do it on its own.
- If your decree has no restoration clause, a counter clerk will refuse it, and the route back to a former name is a court petition instead.
- Agencies usually want the complete decree rather than the page carrying the clause, because the caption and the judge’s signature are on other pages.
Changing your name with a court order
Take your signed court order to Texas Department of Public Safety.
- If it changed any other way: one original or certified document — a certified court order, an amended birth certificate, or a Certificate of Naturalization (form N-550, N-570 or N-578). DPS’s own word for the court order is "certified"
- The copy that agencies accept is the one signed by the judge and stamped or sealed by the clerk. An unsigned conformed copy is refused.
- Agencies accept a signed court order on its own — none of them asks for a marriage or divorce document alongside it.
Where a path has its own Texas page, the link goes there. Where it does not, it goes to the guide for that path, which holds in every state.
Updating your Texas voter registration
Free, and the one people assume happens automatically at the DMV.
| What | Value | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Change it online? | Yes | Texas Secretary of State | |
| Does the DMV do it for you? | Texas does not say. Check rather than assume. | Texas Secretary of State | |
| Registration closes | 30 days before | Texas Secretary of State |
Texas lets a registered voter update every field on the registration record through its portal, including a changed name. That update does not change the name on your driver license — the two records are kept separately.
Texas name change questions
- Do I have to change my name at Social Security before the Texas DMV?
- Do Social Security first — it’s the record most agencies check against, so getting it done first is what keeps the rest in step. A few states require it outright and say so on their own page.
- How much does a Texas name change cost?
- Texas charges $11.00. Replacement license or ID $11. Your expiry date does not change.
- Is a photocopy of my document enough?
- No. Every agency wants the original or a certified copy, and several refuse a certified copy that has been laminated.
Everything above is free. The rest of the list is the work.
You can do all of this yourself with the links on this page — every underlying form is free. What we sell is the evening back: the official forms filled in from your answers, the steps in Texas in the order that works, and a written letter for every bank, employer and insurer you have to tell.
Two questions about your situation first, because there is one answer that means we can’t help — and we would rather tell you that before you pay than after.
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