How We Verify
The standard, in short
Every county fact on this site comes from the office that issues the document, or from an official statewide directory published by a state agency or court system.
Each county page names its sources and the date they were checked.
Where we have not confirmed something — a fee, a phone number — we leave it out and say so on the page. We do not estimate.
Where facts come from
In this order of preference:
- The issuing office itself — the county clerk, court clerk or recorder that hands you the document, via its own website or a direct check.
- An official statewide directory published by a state agency, secretary of state, or state court system.
- The federal agency for federal steps — the Social Security Administration for the SS-5, the US Department of State for passports.
We do not take county facts from other guide sites, aggregators, or directories that republish data without saying where they got it.
Three levels, and we tell you which one you are reading
| Level | What has been confirmed | What the page does |
|---|---|---|
| Fully verified | Offices, addresses, hours and fees confirmed with the office | States the fees. Guides for these counties are sent immediately. |
| Office-verified | Office name and address confirmed against an official statewide directory; fees not yet confirmed | States no fee, and says so plainly. Guides are built to order and sent within one business day. |
| Not yet researched | Nothing county-specific | Asserts no county facts at all, and is kept out of search results on purpose. |
How often it is re-checked
A daily automated audit re-reads published counties against the offices’ own websites and flags anything that has moved or changed price. Counties with a known gap are checked first. Where a fee or an office has changed, the page and the guides built from it change together — there is one source of data behind both.
What we refuse to publish
A worked example, because the principle is easier to judge against a real case.
The Texas phone numbers
In July 2026 we added every Texas county using the Secretary of State’s published county clerk directory. Before publishing, we checked ten of those counties against their own county websites. Addresses matched ten times out of ten. Phone numbers matched eight times out of ten.
The two failures were not typos. That directory is maintained by the elections division, so for Travis County it listed the Elections Department’s number rather than the County Clerk’s, and for Loving County it listed a number the county had since replaced.
Rather than publish roughly fifty wrong phone numbers across 254 counties, we publish none on those pages, and say why. The addresses — which verified cleanly — are there.
Corrections
If something here is wrong, tell us: guides@mynewnameguide.com. Include the county and what the office actually told you. We check it against the office, correct the page and the guides together, and reply to you. If you paid for a guide that contained the error, we refund it.
What this site is not
We are an independent publisher, not a government office and not affiliated with one. Nothing here is legal advice. Offices change fees, hours and forms without notice — confirm with the office before you travel to it. Where a page names a source, that source is the authority; we are reporting it.
Frequently asked questions
- Where does the information on this site come from?
- From the office that issues the document, or from an official statewide directory published by a state agency or court system. Every county page names its sources and the date they were checked.
- How often is it re-checked?
- A daily automated audit re-checks published counties against the offices' own websites and flags anything that has moved or changed price. Counties carrying a known gap are checked first.
- What do you do when you cannot verify something?
- We leave it out and say so on the page. We do not estimate fees, and we do not publish a phone number or address we have not confirmed. A wrong figure is worse than a missing one, because a wrong figure sends someone to a counter unprepared.
- Are you affiliated with any government office?
- No. We are an independent publisher. Nothing here is legal advice, and offices can change a fee or a form without notice - always confirm with the office before you go.
Terms used above are defined in the name change glossary.