Legal Name Change and Gender Marker Support
Stonewall provides peer support throughout the navigation of name change and gender marker legal process. Stonewall coordinators are not legal experts.
How to start the process:
#1: Fill out the court decree documents
Fill out the court decree. People of any age can apply for a legal name and/or gender-marker change in California, even foster youth!
If you are under 18, you will need either all living parents/guardians to sign your forms or will need to provide additional documentation.
For a court order, you do not need any letters from doctors or therapists, you don’t need to publicize, and in most cases, you don’t need a court hearing
(You can seek legal support from lsnc.net if a Court does not respect these rights.)
IMPORTANT PRINT 2 COPIES AND SUBMIT BOTH
It takes 6+ weeks to get your official court decree back from the court after submitting the forms. You will receive two official court orders.
With these two court decrees you can begin the process of obtaining birth certificate, social security card and drivers license.
Health Insurance, School records, bank accounts, and more!
Once you have your official court order, you can start changing the name and gender on file for you in all the different parts of your life.
Note: In the State of California, you have the right to be called by your preferred name and pronouns in school, at work, and by your landlord - even without any legal changes.
#3 The other documents: Birth Certificate, Social Security and License and More!
If you only have one court decree copy, the last step will be requesting a birth certificate.
Birth certificate requires 2 forms: VS20 and VS25 and a the Court Decree. VS20 must be notarized before mailing both birth certificate forms and court decree. You will need to mail it to: California Department of Public Health.
You will not be receiving the court decree back when mailing. Within 4.5 weeks you will receive a new birth certificate in the mail.
Social Security Card requires filling out SS-5 and requires the court decree.
You can change your legal name and gender-marker on your social security card in every state, and you will keep the same social security number! You just need the official court order, two forms of identification, and a completed Social Security Card Application (SS-5).
Note: There is no option for “nonbinary” as a gender marker because it is a federal form. However, you can change to either binary gender on federal documents, and still choose “nonbinary” on your California State IDs.
Drivers License
Once you have your new Social Security Card, you can change your legal name and gender-marker on your State Driver’s License.
If you want to change only your gender-marker, you can do this without a court order anytime by completing the form below!
#2 Picking up the court decree
Frequently Asked Questions:
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The court decree costs $435, luckily there are fee waivers that make the court decree free if you qualify for the following:
Food Stamps, Medi-Cal, County Relief/ General Assistance, CALWorks or Tribal TANF , IHSS, CPI
For a California birth certificate $28.
Social Security Card is free.
Drivers license $45.
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You can still get the Court Decree in California. Birth Certificate depends on the State. Each State has different forms needed to file. Some of the following may be required:
Potential of filling out a form without notary
May send copies of other documents such as
Driver’s License or Identification Card, Passport Card Military Identification Card with both picture and signature
May need letter from physician and/or therapist
Fees maybe different depending on the state
Contact Stonewall for questions about the process and help completing your forms.
This message will go go Blue (he/him), our TGNC Program Coordinator or Max (he/him) our Education and Advocacy Coordinator.
Let him know a bit about your situation (where you are in the process,
how you want to be contacted, etc.), and he’ll get back to you
with more info and/or to schedule an appointment!
More Resources:
Born Outside California. Find birth certificate forms for the state you were born in through A4TE: Advocates for Trans Equality.