How to get copy of my own court ordered name change - Los Angeles

February 28, 2019 2:43 PM

I changed my name and gender several years ago, and I need more certified copies of the court order. I'm not local anymore, and I can't find any information online about how to get them (calling the court clerk leads me into hotline purgatory).

This was at the Burbank courthouse in - I want to say - 2015 or 2016. How do I get my hands on a few certified copies if I can't easily get to the courthouse? If necessary, I can wait until the end of next month, when I'm traveling back to LA, but I'd much rather get some copies before then. When I call the Civil Directory of the Burbank courthouse I get a mess of hotline options, none of which apply to this situation, as they are all about claims cases, and no amount of pushing 0 gets me to a human being. I might be totally dense and not finding something online that should be totally easy to find, so feel free to point me in any direction, however obvious.

posted by lilies.lilies to Law & Government (2 answers total)

This online court service might be able to help you:

The California Courts Self-Help Center is now offering live chat assistance for Name Change on the following days and times:

Mondays
9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Pacific Time
Tuesdays
12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Pacific Time
Wednesdays
3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time

Look for a green tab in the right bottom corner of your screen on name change pages. If you don’t see it, we’re offline. Please come back during the hours listed above.

Live chat assistance is provided by a pilot program and will be available on regular business days from January 7, 2019 through March 27, 2019.

There's also link at the bottom of the page to information about Access to Records:

Instructions on requesting records or access in alternate formats can be found on each local court's website.

posted by Little Dawn at 3:52 PM on February 28, 2019

This PDF about petitions like yours says you can request/purchase certified copies by mail (see bottom of page 2) after about a week has passed since the decree was issued. It gives an address for the Burbank court as well.
posted by carmicha at 3:59 PM on February 28, 2019