Legal Protections for Dignity of Minors

Beginning July 1, 2026, if a petitioner is under 18 years old at the time of filing a petition seeking to change the petitioner's name, the bill requires the court to suppress a record associated with a petition seeking to change the name of a petitioner who is less than 18 years of age the record unless the petitioner was previously convicted of a felony. The bill authorizes the court to use the suppressed court record for administrative purposes, but the court is prohibited from publishing the petitioner's name or the petitioner's new name online. A petitioner who is under 18 years old is not required to give public notice of the name change. The bill authorizes an individual to access a suppressed court record without a court order if the individual obtains verbal consent from a party to the case and submits an affidavit to the court, upon penalty of perjury, that the individual has obtained the verbal consent. In determining parenting time and the allocation of decision-making responsibility, the bill requires the court to consider whether the parties recognize the child's identity as it relates to a protected class.(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)