Questions About Name Change.

Hi M.,

My sister just went through this last year. She has 2 kids and had gotten married a few years ago and her husband wanted to adopt the kids. To do this, my sister had to track down the kids father and get him to give up his rights to the kids and then her husband was able to adopt them. I do know that you will probably have to go through a lawyer or someone at the courthouse. I hope this helps.

When it comes to name change. If the father is not paying child support for at least 1yr. You can have the courts take away his rights and then have your husband adopt him. If he is paying child support then you have to get him to sign off his rights and then have you husband adpot him.

My husband us waiting till my twins are at the right full age before we change there name. Happy to hear that there is another man out there that is willing to step in and be a true dad to the kids.

their birthfather's rights need to be terminated and your husband needs to adopt them for a name change - best wishes!

Hi M.,
I have the same questions about my son. Your childrens father saounds A LOT like my sons father only he doesnt jump job to job he just doesnt bother to work so he doesnt have to pay child support! Nice right?! Well to answer your question as far as I know if he is on the birth certificates he does have to sign his rights over which means filing paper through the court. If he isnt on the birth certificate just call you local court distric they should be able to tell you where to go tofind more info. When I get married I want my son to have what ever name I am going to have but now that he is getting older and I am not married yet I will leave the decision up tohim. At birth I gave him an option from the get go he has both of our last names so he could choose fro himself I am still going to leave that open for him to decide but I want him to always have the last name that I do. Good luck!

Hi, Iwhen I had my daughter, she took my maiden last name. I never told her real father about her(or put his name on the bc)She wasnt planned and he was a short lived fling. My now husband took the father role ever since she was like 4-5 months. When she was 3, we got married. He wanted to take legal action and adopt her. We paid alot for a laywer I never told anyone about her father(biological) so it was like he didnt exist, We went to court and he adopted her. When we were there, her new name was on a certificate with a gold seal. After that, we went to the social security office, and changed her name to her #. Also a new bc that has my husband as the biological daddy. In your case, their dad has to sign over his rights for them and then your husband will have to adopt. It is a shame that something so simple in my eyes has to be drawn out and cost an arm and leg to happen. Your husband sounds like a real good person to want to do this.
Take care and good luck,
K.

go file for a name change and then publish it in the paper, he will have 20 days to response and if he doesn't you'll still have a court date and the the children will have his name!!!

His parental rights need to be terminated before an adoption or even a name change could take place. If you wanted just the name change without terminating his rights, you must find him and get his permission. If he has had no contact for 6 months, the court can terminate his rights based on abandonment (if you're in Pennsylvania). As another mother said, you will have to give notice in the classifieds and then he'll have the opportunity to attend the termination hearing and contest it. However, if you can prove he had plenty of opportunity in the last 6 months, but was missing in action, there won't be a problem with termination. If he does contest it, take him to court for support - usually if a man has no interest, he'll voluntarily terminate his rights when he finds out he'll have to pay support.

You definitely want to get lawyer for this. Fees are generally less than $1000 for step-parent adoption in the Berks/Montgomery/Lehigh County area. You want this done right so it doesn't come back to bite you in the butt later!

Best of luck,
K.

You legally cannot change any of your children's names unless your husband adopts your kids. This requires their biological father to give up all rights to his children and then after a 30 day waiting persiod her can proceed with a step partent adoption. If you need more info...let me know. I just went thru this process myself and can lead you into the right direction.

J.

The courts will find him all you have to do is give his full name and date of birth and if u know his s.s. but they will locate his new address and either mail him with a letter for consent and then it will go from there i'm pretty sure they will tell you what address came up right then n there. they did tis to me with my son father i didnt know where he was and they found him with his full name and date of birth. well good luck and let me know how it goes.

I was thinking about going through this at one point. And I was told that if I couldn't get ahold of my sons father that I would have to put an ad in the Newspaper. Pick up a Newpaper and take a look at the Classify section and it should have a place that says something about Adotions Notice. They basically say when the court date is and why the court date was set. And that his right will be made up wheather he is there or not. I hope that made some sense. But feel free to message me if you want to know anything else about the ad.