---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 10 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO MINORS' PETITIONS FOR NAME CHANGE."
description: "This Act grants legal guardians the standing to petition or oppose a petition to change minors' surnames."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "149"
identifier: "HB 420"
citation: "Delaware HB 420 (149)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Brian J. Bushweller", "Sean M. Lynn"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 9
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2018-05-30"
last_action: "2018-07-17"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9611ddf0-8ddd-4352-8203-d1e90f3d7371"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=26707"
source_hash: "d69f95afe27dc7c55ca0790ef58fd5a64112a69063ab099f85db8325e619a0e6"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-de"]
---

# Delaware HB 420 (149) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 10 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO MINORS' PETITIONS FOR NAME CHANGE.

This Act grants legal guardians the standing to petition or oppose a petition to change minors' surnames.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Bill Text** (committee substitute) — [source](https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=26707&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB420)

## Votes

- SM — **20–0** (pass) · upper
- SM — **40–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Brian J. Bushweller — primary (person)
- Sean M. Lynn — primary (person)
- Gerald L. Brady — cosponsor (person)
- Lyndon D. Yearick — cosponsor (person)
- Stephanie T. Bolden — cosponsor (person)
- Stephen Smyk — cosponsor (person)
- Trey Charles Paradee — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2018-05-30** Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2018-06-13** Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in House with 11 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2018-06-19** Amendment HA 1 to HB 420 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
- **2018-06-26** Amendment HA 1 to HB 420 - Passed In House by Voice Vote `amendment-passage`
- **2018-06-26** Passed By House. Votes: 40 YES 1 ABSENT `passage`
- **2018-06-26** Assigned to Judicial & Community Affairs Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2018-07-01** Suspension of Rules in Senate
- **2018-07-01** Passed By Senate. Votes: 20 YES 1 ABSENT `passage`
- **2018-07-17** Signed by Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/9611ddf0-8ddd-4352-8203-d1e90f3d7371`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).