republic-os/legislation/us/states/de/150/hb-188.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 10 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PETITIONS FOR CHANGE OF NAME.	Currently, Family Court has jurisdiction over name changes for minors when considered in conjunction with establishing parentage, as well as adult name resumption related to divorce proceedings. Outside of that context, a name change must be filed in the Court of Common Pleas. This bill provides for Family Court to assume jurisdiction over all minor name change petitions, as recommended by the Jurisdiction Improvement Committee established by the Delaware Supreme Court Order of November 7, 2017. The bill exempts the name change matters in Family Court from newspaper publication requirements. Under the bill, the Court of Common Pleas retains its jurisdiction over other adult name change petitions.	us/states/de	Delaware General Assembly	150	HB 188	Delaware HB 188 (150)	bill		enacted	Kendra Johnson Nicole Poore Valerie Longhurst	1	7	2	2019-06-07	2019-06-30	openstates	ocd-bill/66fa4fd2-46b1-4257-a616-58398561b1f5	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=47622	033d031abd3a4780b25bb34518544a875fc6d64092ce3b0b911bf32e15cb19af	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-de

Delaware HB 188 (150) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 10 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PETITIONS FOR CHANGE OF NAME.

Currently, Family Court has jurisdiction over name changes for minors when considered in conjunction with establishing parentage, as well as adult name resumption related to divorce proceedings. Outside of that context, a name change must be filed in the Court of Common Pleas. This bill provides for Family Court to assume jurisdiction over all minor name change petitions, as recommended by the Jurisdiction Improvement Committee established by the Delaware Supreme Court Order of November 7, 2017. The bill exempts the name change matters in Family Court from newspaper publication requirements. Under the bill, the Court of Common Pleas retains its jurisdiction over other adult name change petitions.

Version chain

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

1. Bill Text (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• SM — 39–0 (pass) · lower
• SM — 20–0 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Kendra Johnson — primary (person)
• Nicole Poore — primary (person)
• Valerie Longhurst — primary (person)

Timeline

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

• 2019-06-07 Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House introduction, referral-committee
• 2019-06-12 Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in House with 1 Favorable, 6 On Its Merits committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage
• 2019-06-18 Passed By House. Votes: 39 YES 2 ABSENT passage
• 2019-06-18 Assigned to Judicial Committee in Senate introduction, referral-committee
• 2019-06-30 Suspension of Rules in Senate
• 2019-06-30 Passed By Senate. Votes: 20 YES 1 ABSENT passage
• 2019-06-30 Signed by Governor executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/66fa4fd2-46b1-4257-a616-58398561b1f5. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).