Am I Able to Change My Kids Last Name?

E.,

Legally the father whether he pays child support, shows up to court, or anything of the sort still has his rights intact. However, you can ask the father to relinquish all rights to your child and terminate his paternal rights. If he signs the papers then there is no problem. If you chose to remarry sometime down the road your new spouse will be expected to go through the adoption route in order to allow your child to share his last name. It is not that easy just to ask the courts to terminate a parents rights to his/her child. You will need a stack of evidence to prove why he/she should lose any and all rights to their child.
Please think this out thoroughly. Don't make a decision in the heat of emotion. If you would like more information I would be glad to help you out. In case you are wondering I went through this same situation myself 10years ago with my daughter and my new marriage.

Good Luck to you and enjoy your mother's day!
Dene'

Changing a child's name is not an issue of custody; it's a legal issue and a court process.

Just because you don't like the guy anymore, he's still the kids' father. They will always love him. So, the question should be "should" I change the kids' last name, not "can" I.

My mom did of course that was back in the early 80s. She changed our names to her maiden name. She didn't change it on the birth certificate just on our social card.
Of course our dad didn't care cause he was never in our lives no matter how many times we waited for him to pick us up for his visits. We have a great step dad that has been around for 27+ years and that is our dad.
Good Luck!

Just because the father didn't show up to court doesn't mean he lost every legal right to his kids. I don't know the specifics of your papers, but was he given visitation? Was he ordered child support? Or does the papers say that his parental rights have been terminated?

Unless a court grants you the right to change their last name, you would have to acquire his signature for the affidavit to change last names.

Typically, a court would require notice to and consent from the child's father for a name change, unless his parental rights were/are terminated. Being granted sole custody does not erase all of the father's parental rights.

I had some friend's who had their names changed as teenagers b/c the new step dad adopted them.

My other friend however kept his father's name and hyphenated it with the new step-dad's name. They actaully sounded really nice together.

I would think this to be a lengthy process and it would take some serious contemplation on if it is really the right thing for the child, especially if the birth father is still invoolved in the child's life. For some situations it is, for others, it seems to be just another vindictive way to use the children against the dad.

If you get remarried and your new spouse adopts your kids you can change their last name. But you will not get child support anymore.

My kids are now teens but their father's rights were terminatied when they were toddlers. I thought about changing their names for safety but did not as I felt it was their right to keep their father's name even if he was not the best of dads. I kept the name as well so my kids did not have the confusion of different names. Had I ever remarried, it would have been a requirement for him to adopt them. I am glad I did this because as they have grown I have been able to tell them the god qualities about their father and although they have no memory of him they have good feelings about who they are. As you have been advised, name change is a legal issue and requires a court to do so. Best of luck to you.

I believe you can not do that unless years go by and you can not get ahold of the man. My step son used his step dads name always and it was not changed legally until he was grown up. So it just depends. If the dad is involved or gone out of your lives and you can not find him. You could get away with just doing it. My stpe son met his step dad at age three and from then on he was in hs eyes his dad. He is in his 40's now and has nothing to do with his real dad or me. I moved changed my name as I remarried and he got mad at his dad. He is a wonderful young man and I will always love him. He did not have easy street living with a single mom.

Hi,
I agree with you, if the kids father hasn't been present in their lives for the last five years and you find someone who is willing to accept you and your kids, then go for it, change there names. My cousin did this with his wifes little girl. They(he and his wife) did not want him to adopt her because that involves tracking down the biological father and basically getting his permission for the adoption, so they went down to the court house and had her last name legally changed to his. As a matter of fact, the did it over the internet, then all they had to do was show up on ther court date, answer some questions the judge asked them and poof her name was changed to my cousins last name. So, to answer your question...yes you can change your kids last names!! Hope this helps.
~A.~