Skip to main content Skip to office menu Skip to footer
Capital IconMinnesota Legislature

Office of the Revisor of Statutes

259.10 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS.
    Subdivision 1. Procedure. A person who shall have resided in this state for six months may
apply to the district court in the county where the person resides to change the person's name, the
names of minor children, if any, and the name of a spouse, if the spouse joins in the application, in
the manner herein specified. The person shall state in the application the name and age of the
spouse and each of the children, if any, and shall describe all lands in the state in or upon which
the person, the children and the spouse if their names are also to be changed by the application,
claim any interest or lien, and shall appear personally before the court and prove identity by
at least two witnesses. If the person be a minor, the application shall be made by the person's
guardian or next of kin. The court shall accept the certificate of dissolution prepared pursuant to
section 518.148 as conclusive evidence of the facts recited in the certificate and may not require
the person to provide the court a copy of the judgment and decree of dissolution. Every person
who, with intent to defraud, shall make a false statement in any such application shall be guilty
of a misdemeanor provided, however, that no minor child's name may be changed without both
parents having notice of the pending of the application for change of name, whenever practicable,
as determined by the court.
    Subd. 2. Witness and victim protection name changes; private data. If the court
determines that the name change for an individual is made in connection with the individual's
participation in a witness and victim protection program, the court shall order that the court
records of the name change are not accessible to the public; except that they may be released, upon
request, to a law enforcement agency, probation officer, or corrections agent conducting a lawful
investigation. The existence of an application for a name change described in this subdivision
may not be disclosed except to a law enforcement agency conducting a lawful investigation.
History: (8633) RL s 3620; 1917 c 222 s 1; 1943 c 28 s 1; 1943 c 292 s 1; 1951 c 535 s 1;
1975 c 52 s 1; 1986 c 317 s 1; 1986 c 444; 1991 c 161 s 1; 1995 c 259 art 1 s 39

Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes