Bill Text: IL HB5164 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Engrossed

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Bill Title: Amends the Clerks of the Court Act. Provides that filing fees for a petition for change name may not exceed $25, and the court may waive this fee for good cause shown. Amends the Name Change Article of the Code of Civil Procedure. Deletes the requirement that a petitioner must reside in the State for 6 months before the petitioner may file a petition under the Article. Allows a petitioner to request that the court file be impounded if public disclosure may be a hardship and have a negative impact on the petitioner's health or safety. Allows the petitioner to attach to the statement any supporting documents including relevant court orders. Allows the petitioner to request that his or her address be omitted from court documents if it would put the petitioner or petitioner's family at risk. Repeals the requirements to publish a notice of a petition to change a name.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 31-0)

Status: (Engrossed) 2024-10-28 - Added as Alternate Co-Sponsor Sen. Emil Jones, III [HB5164 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-HB5164-Engrossed.html

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AN ACT concerning civil law.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Code of Civil Procedure is amended by
changing Section 21-101 and by adding Section 21-103.8 as
follows:
(735 ILCS 5/21-101) (from Ch. 110, par. 21-101)
Sec. 21-101. Proceedings; parties.
(a) If any person who is a resident of this State and has
resided in this State for 6 months desires to change his or her
name and to assume another name by which to be afterwards
called and known, the person may file a petition requesting
that relief in the circuit court of the county wherein he or
she resides. The petitioner shall have resided in this State
for 3 months at the time of the name change hearing or entry of
an order granting the name change.
(b) A person who has been convicted of any offense for
which a person is required to register under the Sex Offender
Registration Act, the Murderer and Violent Offender Against
Youth Registration Act, or the Arsonist Registration Act in
this State or any other state and who has not been pardoned is
not permitted to file a petition for a name change in the
courts of this State during the period that the person is

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required to register, unless that person verifies under oath,
as provided under Section 1-109, that the petition for the
name change is due to marriage, religious beliefs, status as a
victim of trafficking or gender-related identity as defined by
the Illinois Human Rights Act. A judge may grant or deny the
request for legal name change filed by such persons. Any such
persons granted a legal name change shall report the change to
the law enforcement agency having jurisdiction of their
current registration pursuant to the Duty to Report
requirements specified in Section 35 of the Arsonist
Registration Act, Section 20 of the Murderer and Violent
Offender Against Youth Registration Act, and Section 6 of the
Sex Offender Registration Act. For the purposes of this
subsection, a person will not face a felony charge if the
person's request for legal name change is denied without proof
of perjury.
(b-1) A person who has been convicted of a felony offense
in this State or any other state and whose sentence has not
been completed, terminated, or discharged is not permitted to
file a petition for a name change in the courts of this State
unless that person is pardoned for the offense.
(c) A petitioner may include the petitioner's his or her
spouse and adult unmarried children, with their consent, and
the petitioner's his or her minor children where it appears to
the court that it is for their best interest, in the petition
and relief requested, and the court's order shall then include

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the spouse and children. Whenever any minor has resided in the
family of any person for the space of 3 years and has been
recognized and known as an adopted child in the family of that
person, the application herein provided for may be made by the
person having that minor in that person's his or her family.
An order shall be entered as to a minor only if the court
finds by clear and convincing evidence that the change is
necessary to serve the best interest of the child. In
determining the best interest of a minor child under this
Section, the court shall consider all relevant factors,
including:
(1) The wishes of the child's parents and any person
acting as a parent who has physical custody of the child.
(2) The wishes of the child and the reasons for those
wishes. The court may interview the child in chambers to
ascertain the child's wishes with respect to the change of
name. Counsel shall be present at the interview unless
otherwise agreed upon by the parties. The court shall
cause a court reporter to be present who shall make a
complete record of the interview instantaneously to be
part of the record in the case.
(3) The interaction and interrelationship of the child
with the child's his or her parents or persons acting as
parents who have physical custody of the child,
step-parents, siblings, step-siblings, or any other person
who may significantly affect the child's best interest.

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(4) The child's adjustment to the child's his or her
home, school, and community.
(d) If it appears to the court that the conditions and
requirements under this Article have been complied with and
that there is no reason why the relief requested should not be
granted, the court, by an order to be entered of record, may
direct and provide that the name of that person be changed in
accordance with the relief requested in the petition. If the
circuit court orders that a name change be granted to a person
who has been adjudicated or convicted of a felony or
misdemeanor offense under the laws of this State or any other
state for which a pardon has not been granted, or has an arrest
for which a charge has not been filed or a pending charge on a
felony or misdemeanor offense, a copy of the order, including
a copy of each applicable access and review response, shall be
forwarded to the Illinois State Police. The Illinois State
Police shall update any criminal history transcript or
offender registration of each person 18 years of age or older
in the order to include the change of name as well as his or
her former name.
(Source: P.A. 102-538, eff. 8-20-21; 102-1133, eff. 1-1-24;
revised 12-15-23.)
(735 ILCS 5/21-103.8 new)
Sec. 21-103.8. Impounding court file.
(a) A petitioner may file a motion to have the

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petitioner's court file impounded. The motion shall include a
statement, verified under oath as provided under Section 1-109
of this Code, that the person believes that public disclosure
would be a hardship and have a negative impact on the person's
health or safety to include, but not be limited to, that the
person is transgender, an adoptee, a survivor of domestic or
intimate partner abuse, a survivor of gender-based violence, a
survivor of human trafficking, a refugee, a person who has
been granted special immigrant status by the United States
Citizenship and Immigration Service, a person who has survived
reparative or conversion therapy, or a person who has been
granted asylum in this country. The petitioner may attach to
the statement any supporting documents including relevant
court orders, although self attestation shall suffice as
acceptable documentation.
(b) If the petitioner files a statement attesting that
disclosure of the petitioner's address would put the
petitioner or any member of the petitioner's family or
household at risk or reveal the confidential address of a
shelter for domestic violence victims, that address may be
omitted from all documents filed with the court, and the
petitioner may designate an alternative address for service.