Frequently Asked Questions About Illinois Name Change Law

Q. Who operates Illinois Name Change Law?

A.  The Name Change Law Center is operated by SmartLegalForms, Inc., a legal information services company based in Baltimore, Maryland and Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. We have been in business since 1997 and have operated a network of smart legal form web sites during this entire period, serving tens of thousands of consumers. We also provide a service to law firms to enable them to offer online legal services and automated legal documents. SmartLegalForms is a private company that is owned and operated by attorneys.

The President and founder of SmartLegalForms is Richard S. Granat, who is also the Managing Partner of Granat Legal Services, one of the nation's first virtual law firms. Mr. Granat presently Co-Chair of the ELawyering Task Force of the Law Practice Management Section of the American Bar Association, which has developed standards and guidelines for legal information web sites. He also serves on the Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services of the ABA, and recently was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Bar Association for Innovation in the Delivery of Legal Services. Mr. Granat helped create the paralegal profession in the United States, and was the President of the Philadelphia Institute for Paralegal Training, the nation's first paralegal educational institution. Mr. Granat is a nationally known expert on name change law and lead the development team which created the legal forms available on this web site.

(Back to Top)

Q. Can I really represent myself in changing my own name?

A. We believe that with accurate and complete legal information a person of reasonable intelligence and education can represent themselves in a wide variety of routine and uncontested legal matters. This assumption is based on fact. In an evaluation study undertaken by the University of Maryland School of Law of a sample drawn from over 10,000 pro se litigants in family matters in Maryland Courts, seventy-four (74%) reported that they were satisfied with the result and would represent themselves again. Fifty-four (54%) percent reported that they decided to represent themselves because they thought a lawyer would be too expensive, and an additional eighteen (18%) reported that they represented themselves because they did not think that the problem was sufficiently complicated that a lawyer's services were required. These research findings are supported by similar research in other jurisdictions which are collected at the Pro Se Law Center.

There are situations when you should not represent yourself and you should seek the assistance of counsel. These situations include where you have substantial assets; where you and your spouse cannot reach agreement on custody, visitation, or child support issues; and where your spouse is uncooperative or has been abusive. On the other hand if your dispute is uncontested, securing a legal result is only a matter of filing the correct legal documents in the correct order. If you can follow instructions, you can represent yourself as a pro se litigant -- you don't have to have three years of law school.

(Back to Top)

Q. Who provides the answers to the legal information questions?

A. Our Legal Research Team answers you directly, but provides general legal information answers only --not legal advice--since we are not a law firm.

(Back to Top)

Q. What if I need legal advice?

A. If you need legal advice, defined as applying the law to the specific facts of your case, we recommend an attorney in your state. You can find a network of attorneys that offer name change forms bundled with legal advice for a fixed price at DirectLawConnect, a network of innovative law firms delivering legal services online.

(Back to Top)

Q. How do I contact Illinois Name Change Law?

Name Change Law Information Center
9141 Reisterstown Road, #43
Owings Mills, MD 21117
Toll-Free Telephone: 855-LGL-FORM (855-545-3676)
E-mail: contact us here

(Back to Top)

Q. Who processes my credit card information when purchasing kits or services?

A. Credit card transactions for The Name Change Law Center are processed by ChasePaymentech, the leading processor of secure credit card transactions on the Internet.

(Back to Top)

Q. Are my communications secure?

A. Illinois Name Change Law is hosted on a secure Commerce Server, which uses the Secure Sockets Layer protocol (SSL). It is a security protocol and emerging standard like HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) to transfer information across the Internet. The main difference between the two is that SSL, has made special provisions (via various encryption schemes) to transfer information securely across the Internet. SSL enables a Web site visitor's browser to connect and transparently negotiate a secure communication channel. Once this connection has been made, information can be exchanged with no chance of any unauthorized third party interpreting the data.

(Back to Top)

Q. What is your refund policy?

A. We will refund 100% of your payment, for any self-help legal product purchased from Illinois Name Change Law, provided that you make your request within 3 days after purchase and that you certify that you have not used the form kits to prepare your legal forms. If for any reason a court will not accept forms that we have prepared or which you have purchase from us, we will refund your money, provided that you provide us with evidence of the court's rejection of our forms. To request a refund, contact us here.  PLEASE NOTE: A separate refund policy exists for our Document Preparation Service.  Please click here for those details.

(Back to Top)

Illinois Name Change Forms

Self-Prepared

Adult Name Change $29.95

Paralegal-Prepared

Adult Name Change $99.95

Try before you buy

Sale: Now through 12/31/24 take 20% off any purchase! Use promotional code save20

BBB Reliability Program

What Our Customers Say