Introduction
To change your name and gender in California, you need to ask a court to order the change. You won't need to appear at a hearing unless there's a problem. The court will automatically approve your name and gender change after a 6-week waiting period.
Forms
You can fill out your forms by hand with blue or black ink, or using a computer with a black font.
Forms can be filled out on your computer using your web browser (e.g. Firefox, Chrome, Edge), a PDF reader (e.g. Okular, Acrobat), or other software that can edit PDFs (e.g. LibreOffice Draw, Xournal++). I used LibreOffice Draw for my forms.
Cost
Ignoring incidental and variable costs such as parking at government facilities, the cost of my name change came out to $789.84. Here's the breakdown of all the costs:
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Court Filing Fee in Los Angeles | $435.00 |
| Certified Court Copies | $121.50 |
| VS-20 Form Notarization | $15.00 |
| Postage Stamp for Amendment Request | $0.73 |
| Birth Record Amendment | $26.00 |
| DMV Driver’s License Update | $36.76 |
| Passport Photos | $15.00 |
| Priority Mail for Passport Application | $9.85 |
| Passport Renewal | $130.00 |
| Total | $789.84 |
Other resources
- California's self-help guide.
- The Transgender Law Center's ID Please Guide
- The National Center for Transgender Equality's ID Documents Center