Name change after divorce in Colorado: restoring yours, changing your child’s.

Yes. Ask on the petition: the divorce petition has a name-restoration section, and the decree orders the change on a finding that it is not detrimental to any person. Anyone who did not ask in the case, or changed their mind, can ask later by motion. Colorado’s statutes do not say maiden name; they say prior full name, and the post-decree statute says a party, so it is open to either spouse.

Yes, at any time after the decree. File a verified motion and affidavit under the same case number, in the court that entered the decree, stating that restoring your prior full name is not detrimental to any person. The court’s forms are JDF 1824 and JDF 1825, and the motion must be notarized or signed before a deputy clerk. The court shall enter the order if it entered your decree and finds the request is not detrimental to anyone. No fingerprints, and no newspaper notice.

Not through the divorce motion. That statute restores a prior full name, one you have held before. A new name requires the general name-change petition: a fingerprint-based background check dated within ninety days, publication of notice for an adult unless the court excuses it, a filing fee of $98 in county court or $268 in district court, and a decree. The court grants it if the change is proper and not detrimental to the interests of anyone else.

No. The court asks whether restoring your name is detrimental to any person, not whether your former spouse consents, and the order does not change anyone’s rights or obligations under the decree. An ex who objects has to show real detriment, which is rare. The same is true of a new name under the general statute: the question is whether the change is proper and not detrimental to the interests of any other person.

No Colorado statute gives you that remedy. At common law a person may use another name without court action, and the name-change statute is an added method, not the only one; the Court of Appeals has said applications should generally be granted unless made for a wrongful or fraudulent purpose. A former spouse who keeps the married name is doing what the law allows. If the name is being used to commit fraud, that is a different problem, with different remedies.

For an adult’s new name, usually yes: the court orders publication unless the petitioner shows good cause, and the notice runs at least three times within twenty-one days in a newspaper published in your county. The statute makes exceptions for victims of domestic violence or child abuse, young people in dependency cases, the simplified process at seventy and older, and gender identity. For anyone under eighteen, no publication since April 20, 2026. For restoring a prior name after a divorce, none at all.

For an adult’s new name, $98 to file in county court or $268 in district court under the court’s March 2026 guide, plus $20 for each certified copy, the fingerprint and background checks, and the newspaper’s charge for publication. Restoring a prior name in the divorce itself is part of the decree, with no separate case. The post-decree motion is filed in the existing case; ask the clerk whether a fee applies.

Yes, with a court order, and the other parent gets notice. If there is a custody or support case about the child, the petition must be filed in that court, which for divorced parents means the divorce case. The court decides on the child’s interests, weighing how long the child has used the name, the effect of the change on the child’s relationship with each parent, the child’s own preference, and any misconduct by the other parent. There is no special rule for hyphenation; the same factors apply.

The other parent has no veto, but is entitled to notice. The Colorado Supreme Court held that a parent whose surname the child carries has an interest in the child’s use of it and is entitled to reasonable notice, in a meaningful time and manner, of a petition to change it; notice by publication is not enough when the parent’s name and address are known or easy to find. The same decision said that interest does not give the parent the power to necessarily prevent a change. The judge decides, on the child’s interests.

Not since the 2026 changes. For petitions filed by or for anyone under eighteen, the newspaper notice ended on April 20, 2026, and beginning July 1, 2026 the court record of a minor’s name change is a suppressed court record. The court may use it for administrative purposes, but it will not publish the child’s old or new name online. A minor’s petition filed before July 1, 2026 must be suppressed on request.

Generally not. The court shall not grant a name-change petition if it finds the petitioner was previously convicted of a felony, or adjudicated a juvenile delinquent for an offense that would be a felony for an adult, subject to narrow exceptions, including some involving identification documents and gender identity. The court has a separate packet for prior felons (JDF 385). Restoring a prior name after a divorce runs under the divorce statute, and the general statute, with its felony bar, does not apply to that motion.

Social Security first; the other agencies expect your name to match its record, and the Social Security Administration says a replacement card arrives in five to ten business days. Then your driver license and passport. Then banks and credit cards, your employer and payroll, insurers, professional licenses, voter registration, the credit bureaus and the county property records. For a child, add the school and the doctor. If you were born in Colorado, a certified copy of the order lets Vital Records amend your birth certificate.