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Alabama name change for transgender people
Disclaimer: This is legal talk, not legal advice. Laws vary by state, and
some of the information discussed on this page may not be applicable in your
case. I cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information and provide it without
warranty. Laws change and this information may contain errors and omissions.
It is up to you to confirm any information herein by doing your own research.
Alabama allows for women in our community to change their names before they
have sex reassignment surgery.
A reader writes in July 2003:
I recently received my legal name change in Mobile Alabama. Although the
state requires a petition filed with the county probate court. My county required
that I hire an attorney to file it for me. Our state mentions no hearing or
waiting period, however I endured both.
My county probate Judge admittedly denied my name change until a national
letter writing campaign began on my behalf. The Montgomery Institute, of which,
Becky is well aquatinted, was instrumental in persuading Judge Davis to reverse
himself.
I thought you might be interested in that little bit of my story.
Another reader writes in December 2003:
I just went and performed a name change less than 7 months ago in my city
of Tuscaloosa.
It was a piece of cake to do-- all I had to do was go to the local probate
judge's office and fill out a form and pay them 18 dollars.
And it was a done deal and I was scared to death as I went from a very male
name to my new name .
I received this on April 2004:
I read the other two letters about name changes in Alabama, so I thought
I would let you know of my experience in Calhoun County in 1999.
State law requires a petition be prepared to change name (they do accept a
form, but I wrote my own petition). The secretary in an attorney's office
helped me find an example in one of the law books, so I wrote my petition
from that. In my petition, I stated that I was a transsexual woman and used
the words, "inward gender" and female pronouns throughout the document.
I have been criticized for that. But to me, it established that I considered
myself a woman. (The final order states that it appears to the court that
"the facts contained in the petition are true and correct...")
I also filled out the form and carried both to the Probate Judge's office.
The clerk read the petition, looked at the form, gave the form back to me
and recorded the petition. I did not have to go before the judge and immediately
my name was changed. Cost was $10.00.
Other resources
Alabama state law
Precedent for transsexuals
[no specific case noted]
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