The Clapper
New member
Hi, I want to legally change my name, but in MA you have to publish it in a newspaper unless you have "good cause" otherwise. The reason for my name change is that I want to distance myself from my family -- there have been verbal and physical altercations (none involving me, but involving my immediate family members.... there are court records of this, although all the charges between parties were eventually dropped), and I want to get away from it all. I don't want my family (most of whom I haven't spoken to in 3+ years) to be able to google me one day and see what I'm doing in life, where I work, etc. I have a rare last name too, so if you google it, any results that you get are about me and me only. I don't want any of them to know what my new last name is, for that would defeat the entire purpose of me changing it.
Is that a good enough reason to tell the judge that I don't want to publish my name change in the newspaper? If not, what is? Thanks!
Is that a good enough reason to tell the judge that I don't want to publish my name change in the newspaper? If not, what is? Thanks!