# 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](https://selfhelp.courts.ca.gov/gender-recognition/gender-name-adult).
- The Transgender Law Center's [ID Please Guide](https://tlcenter.app.box.com/s/3da7afk3p7dn1ngoxcz3tuy18q3u1dco)
- The National Center for Transgender Equality's [ID Documents Center](https://transequality.org/documents/state/california)