Texas Name and Gender Marker Change

Basics

What documents will you need?

• Petition to change name and/or gender. Here is a sample name and gender marker change petition.
• Letter from your physician (general practitioner, endocrinologist, GCS surgeon, etc.) stating that that you have made "irreversible changes for gender transition from <your biological sex> to <your gender identity>". Here is a sample physician's letter.
• Fingerprint card

What will you need to do?

• Get physician's letter.
• Write petition.
• Get fingerprinted.
• Go to district court and file petition.
• Appear in front of a judge, who will look at your documentation, maybe ask you questions, and decide whether to grant your petition.

Where will you need to go?

Legally, you can file your petition for name/gender marker change in any Texas county, not just the county of your current residence, but some judges may misread the statute to require petition be filed in the county of residence.

Travis County

Travis County District Court
Heman Marion Sweatt Travis County Courthouse
1000 Guadalupe St.
Austin, TX 78701

County-specific information

Information on venue, friendly/hostile judges, etc. by county.

• Travis
• Williamson

Files & Documents

• Physician's letter:
  • Sample physician's letter
• Petitions:
  • Sample name and gender marker change petition -- coming soon
  • Sample name change petition -- coming soon
  • Sample gender marker change petition -- coming soon
• Cour order:
  • Sample court order, ordering name and gender marker change

What else will need to do post-change

There is no specific order by which to change your driver's license and your Social Security information. People have reported success changing either one first.

Social Security

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has a specific procedure for changing your name and gender. It is here: "RM 10212.200 Changing Numident Data for Reasons other than Name Change". It's a good idea to print that page out to take with you and show it to the SSA clerk. Here is the SSA FAQ on changing gender ¹.

Passport

Information on changing name/gender on passport is here.

Bank accounts

The court order and driver's license with my new name and gender marker were sufficient to change the name of my accounts and credit cards etc. at my banks, Chase and University Federal Credit Union.

Car title & registration

[1]: The SSA FAQs are here: "Help Topics" / "Social Security Number and Card" / "General Questions" section of the SSA FAQs.