Name Change Project

Re-introducing The Name Change Project
Name Change Project History - Since 2007, TLDEF's Name Change Project has connected low-income transgender and non-binary individuals with volunteer attorneys to assist with the legal name change process. Since it's inception, NCP has facilitated over 3,000 name changes. In 2021 alone, NCP facilitated 384 name changes.

TLDEF's Name Change Project provides pro bono legal name change services to low-income transgender, gender non-conforming, and non-binary people through partnerships with some of the nation’s most prestigious law firms and corporate law departments.

For many transgender people, securing a legal name change is an important step toward making their legal identities match their lived experience.

A lack of appropriate identity documents can deter people from applying for jobs, school, and public benefits, and can lead to discrimination. But securing a legal name change can be a challenging experience, involving interaction with the court system and judges that is foreign to many people.

By providing transgender people with legal representation, we work to ensure that people successfully complete the process and move forward with their lives.

Applications Are Currently Paused:

We are not currently accepting new applications for assistance from the Name Change Project. We are taking this brief pause to enable our small team to maintain timely responses to current applications and provide quality support to everyone who applies for assistance.

We plan to resume accepting applications later this summer.

We accept applications from residents of

Atlanta, GA (Clayton, Cobb, Dekalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett Counties)
Chicago, IL (Cook County)
New Jersey (Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Passaic, Union, and Middlesex Counties)
New York City (All Five Boroughs)
Long Island, NY (Nassau and Suffolk Counties)
Philadelphia, PA (Philadelphia County)
Pittsburgh, PA (Allegheny County)

How Our Process Works:

Step 1: Complete our name change intake form.
All initial requests for name change assistance must be submitted via our online intake form below. A member of our team will review the intake form and respond via email on a first come, first served basis.

Only complete the intake form if you are a resident of:

Atlanta, GA (Clayton, Cobb, Dekalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett Counties)
Chicago, IL (Cook County)
New Jersey (Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Passaic, Union, and Middlesex Counties)
New York City (All Five Boroughs)
Long Island, NY (Nassau and Suffolk Counties)
Philadelphia, PA (Philadelphia County)
Pittsburgh, PA (Allegheny County)

Step 2: TLDEF determines whether you meet criteria for assistance.
We cannot help everyone who contacts us. Once we have evaluated your initial intake form, there are four possible responses:

  • Decline
    Unfortunately, we are unable to help everyone who asks for our help. If we determine that you are not eligible, we will let you know via email, and we will send you self-help resources and/or referrals to other organizations whenever possible.
  • Information Request
    If information is missing from an intake form or we require additional information to determine eligibility, a member of TLDEF's staff will reach out to you via email to gather more information.
  • Scheduling Intake
    Sometimes, potentially eligible applicants must complete a phone intake to gather additional information. These phone intakes typically take 20-30 minutes, are conducted by TLDEF staff members, and are confidential.
  • Attorney Assignment
    Sometimes, cases can be assigned directly to a volunteer attorney without any additional information requests and without an intake call. We will still contact you to sign a Participant Agreement, which outlines some important notes regarding our program, before you begin working with a volunteer attorney.

Note that completion of the intake process does not guarantee representation.

Step 3: Referral to attorney.
If an applicant is eligible for representation, the person will be placed on a waitlist for referral to an attorney for name change representation after the Participant Agreement is signed.

TLDEF does not directly represent transgender, gender nonconforming, and non-binary people seeking legal name changes. Rather, TLDEF partners with law firms and legal departments at corporations, who take on the representation of TLDEF-referred participants in the Name Change Project. Once a referral takes place, TLDEF’s Name Change Project services are complete.

Thank You!

The Name Change Project is also made possible by the generous pro bono support of:

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TLDEF New York City Name Change Project

DYCD

Updated on Jul 10, 2024