How I did it: The short version of why we (my wife and I) changed our name is that a while back, my parents adopted our son on threat of legal action.  My mother said that it wouldn't cause any problems with us visiting with our son at any time (barring them having other plans beforehand).
Since then, my parents have waffled between letting us see him, and forbidding us to visit.  Each time, it's taken months to get to the other side.
Well, my parents are currently doing the, "Well, we think it's better if he doesn't see you or your wife or your wife's family," routine again.  This started a week or two ago, meaning we won't be able to see him for the holidays.
Well, we have had enough.  We have changed our last name so that we are no longer linked to those people anymore.
On top of that, our new name is one that nobody else seems to have, a fact my wife likes.
What's better, though, is that I also changed my middle name.  Now my initials no longer spell "Dummy."  Instead, they spell "Doctor."  So I have increased my initial's intelligence with that simple change.  :-)

Lessons & tips: I did a lot of searching on the web.  There's a lot of forms out there costing various prices.  Instead of bothering with them, though, we went to the local courthouse.

In Alabama, it was a simple matter of showing them our driver's licenses and proof of address (a piece of mail.)  We paid $18 each, gave the clerk our new name (the old one was on our DLs), and she did the paperwork.  It only took a few minutes to complete.

Resources: Check your local county courthouse & see what they need.

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Dec 20, 2008, 02:20PM PST | 0 comments | 1 cheer