Hi all, I will be seeking legal advice, but I am interested to hear others experiences on the topic.
Has anyone been successful in legally changing their child's last name? Without the fathers consent.
My 6yo currently has her fathers last name only and would really like to change it to be hyphenated so she can share my last name aswell as her father and I are no longer together and haven't been for some time.
I wanted her to have a hyphenated last name from day one but it was a dv relationship and he manipulated me into putting only his last name down on the birth certificate.
He has recently had a 2nd daughter with his current partner and his new daughter has a hyphenated last name.
My daughter has asked why she only has her dads last name when her sister has both.
She lives with me majority of the time. Sees her dad every other weekend and sometimes extra on the school holidays.
I have asked if he would agree to letting me hyphenate her last name so she can have my last name too and be the same as her sister but he won't agree. Which I believe is purely out of spite. He is still verbally and emotionally abusive towards me and we have a dvo currently in place.
Any advice or experiences from anyone that is or has been in a similar situation would be much appreciated :)
Hyphenating child last name
Hyphenating child last name
Posted in:
Kids
3 Replies
Short of having it court ordered I think the only way is if he agrees. Possibly seek legal advice though as I have never had to deal with anything like that.
I had my daughter's surname under both of our surnames! I had to ask her father permission & for him to sign to take off his last name! He did! I paid for it, never asked him! Hes never had anything to do with our daughter, not once!
Apparently l would of had to take him to court to have it changed & l told him that! He wouldnt of wanted to go to court! This is in Victoria, hope this helps!
Depending on what state you live in but in Queensland, if the father doesn't agree you need to go to the magistrates court and have an order made by the courts. We are currently 4 years in this battle and my son will not use his fathers surname and will not respond to it but the father will not agree to change it. It makes it harder as my son has medical issues and has medical plans with his picture and name scattered around his care facility so it makes it difficult when he is known as one thing but listed as another. I work in the legal profession so I know what I have to do to change it but I am emotionally finding it difficult to do, I don't know why haha.