Release Date: August 23,2021
Change in Ohio Law allows Name Conformity
Summit County Probate Court to help those who have a birth certificate which does not match other documents
(Summit County, Ohio - August, 2021) — A new law went into effect August 17, 2021, establishing a procedure for a person to conform his or her name on all legal documents. This law also eliminated the requirement to publish the application in a newspaper and the requirement for a mandatory hearing on any Name Change unless it is for a minor or a hearing is deemed necessary by the Judge or Magistrate.
A Name change, changes a person’s legal name while a name conformity does not; it allows changes to legal documents to reflect the current name.
The “Name Conformity” process allows non clerical errors to be corrected on legal documents so that all documents match; for example; a person would use Name Conformity if the name on a birth certificate is Angelica but the name on all other documents is Angela. This may be necessary to obtain travel compliant documents, including a new driver’s license.
To correct a clerical error, for example Angelica was misspelled Angelici on a birth certificate, please refer to the Birth Registration/Correction forms on the Summit County Probate website. Those wishing to have conforming documents can apply by following the instructions on the Summit County Probate Court website by filling an application and a filing fee. A person applying for name change/name conformity must show that they have lived in Summit County for 60 days preceding the application.
Please refer to the blue bar listed as Name Changes/Conformity on Summit County Probate Court website for further and complete information.
If there are questions on this procedure contact the Court at (330) 643-2349.