Court Recognizes Name & Gender Change of Chaz Bono

Chaz Bono "couldn't be happier" today as his petition was granted by the courts to recognize him as a male and to acknowledge his name change.

"This is an important step in [Chaz's] transition and will allow him to change a variety of his identity documents to show who he truly is, " Kristina Wertz, Legal Director of the Transgender Law Center, tells ET.

Chaz, son of Cher and the late Sonny Bono, filed a formal petition in March in the California Superior Court. In legal filings, Chaz's doctor Dr. Michael L. Brownstein stated that on September 23, 2009, Chaz underwent an "irreversible surgical procedure for the purpose of altering Chaz Bono's sex characteristics from female to male."