Any adult in Wisconsin can file for a name change at the circuit court in their county of residence.

The forms required to file for a name change – CV-450 – can be found for free on the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access (WCCA) website.

Name changes in Wisconsin are normally required to be public processes, and petitioners must publish notice of a proposed name change in a newspaper for three weeks before the name change can be granted.

When a petition for a name change is filed, it becomes public record and appears online on the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access website, commonly referred to as CCAP.

While a petition for a name change is a court case, there is no opposing party arguing against the requested name change. A petitioner only has to demonstrate to the court that they have met the requirements under Wisconsin law, including the publication requirement, and that they are not disqualified in some way to petition for a name change – that is, that they are not required to register as a sex offender, that they are not changing their name to avoid a debt or a criminal record, and that if they hold certain professional licenses (e.g., nursing or law) they have received permission from their licensing board.

Filing for a Confidential Name Change

The fact that a name change is a public record can be intimidating and creates real barriers for people who might fear for their safety if they had to publish notice and have their case live on for years online.

However, petitioners can request a confidential name change if they have reason to fear that they would be in danger if their request for a name change were made public.

These forms can also be found for free on the circuit courts’ website, and the way the petition (Form CV-451) is worded is largely the same as the standard name change forms.

The process is still a court proceeding, and the final determination will be made by a judge, but there is no publishing process, and the record of the case will not appear in the public court record (including on WCCA/CCAP) even if the judge denies the confidential name change request. If a judge does deny a request for a confidential name change, a petitioner can still request a standard, public name change.

What is Required for a Name Change to be Confidential

To obtain a confidential name change, a petitioner needs to submit evidence that shows that there is a risk of endangerment if they were required to publish notice of the name change.^[1]

The desire for privacy is not enough to meet the burden for a confidential name change – there has to be a showing that the petitioner would be put at risk if they had to publish notice of their petition. This evidence can be submitted either in writing when they file the petition, or at a hearing where they would be able to give testimony to the judge.

One way to submit this evidence before a hearing is to draft an affidavit, which is a written, sworn, and notarized statement explaining why the petitioner believes the notice by publication requirement would put them in danger or at risk of harm.

A petitioner might also submit any other evidence related to threats or abuse that they think could help the court understand their situation and why they would be put at risk by publishing the name change (e.g., photos, prints of text messages or mail, newspaper articles, criminal and restraining order case numbers, etc.).

The more specific details a petitioner can share about any risk of harm, the more likely the judge will be to approve the request for a confidential name change. For example, a petitioner could explain that they have been harmed in the past, and that they are changing their name to prevent their abuser from being able to find them again.

The petitioner could also provide evidence that they are likely to be harmed if someone finds out that they are changing their name. This kind of evidence could include any threats that people have made or any experiences of past abuse, and an explanation of why the petitioner is afraid that they might be harmed again in the future.

Showing a Specific Threat

In general, though, the confidential name-change laws have been interpreted to require that a petitioner show a specific risk of personal physical harm to them if the name change were to be publicized.

If, for example, someone is changing their name as part of a gender transition^[2] and they don’t want to publicize the petition because of transphobia in their community, or general threatening rhetoric, their request for a confidential name change might not be approved unless they were able to show specific threats or abuse that they personally have been subjected to.

Other Alternatives

Wisconsin’s confidential name change laws can thus make it difficult for people who might legitimately fear for their safety but who have not been abused or threatened themselves from obtaining accurate and affirming identification that affects almost every aspect of modern life.

Petitioners who live in Wisconsin and don’t want to publish their name change, but whose birth certificates were issued in another jurisdiction, might consider looking into the requirements for a name change in those other jurisdictions, since many other states do not have a publication requirement or court records as easily accessible as WCCA/CCAP.

Another consideration is the various other profiles and accounts that would need to be updated, potentially publicly or at least non-confidentially, after a name change is approved. Updating information with private entities is the petitioner’s responsibility, and the policies and procedures for correcting that information vary widely.

The Challenges in Wisconsin

In my practice, many people who have wanted to petition for a name change in Wisconsin have been discouraged by the publication process and the challenges associated with asking for a confidential name change.

Until the laws governing the name change process are updated, petitioners will likely need the assistance of an attorney to draft an affidavit, or gather and present sufficient evidence to support a petition for a confidential name change.

Helping someone obtain a confidential name change can improve their life in real, meaningful ways.

This article was originally published on the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Public Interest Law Section Blog. Visit the State Bar sections or the Public Interest Law Section web pages to learn more about the benefits of section membership.

Endnotes

[1] Wis. Stat. section 786.37(4): “… The court may require the petitioner to comply with sub. (1) [the portion of the statute establishing the publication requirement] if the petitioner is unable to show, by a preponderance of the evidence, that publication of his or her petition could endanger him or her. …”

[2] There is a separate petition process for officially changing a gender marker in Wisconsin, but unlike the name change process, at the time of this writing there is no provision in the law that creates a confidential gender marker change petition. Gender marker change cases are almost always public record and will appear on WCCA/CCAP, unless they are sealed by the court or consolidated with a petition for a confidential name change request made at the same time.