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how many of you have changed your childrens last name?

hrking2011hrking2011
in Single Parents
My daughters father and I were never married but he signed the birth certifcate. He does not pay cs and he has said terrible things about our daughter. He now lives in California and I live in Ohio. How would I go about changing her last name to mine?
Lilypie - Personal pictureLilypie Premature Baby tickers
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Re: how many of you have changed your childrens last name?

  • LoveyFNRLoveyFNR member
    How are you two on legal custody? Do you have sole legal custody? If so, you may be able to change it without his permission. If you do want to change it and need his permission you can take him to court. If he fails to show up to argue it then you will be granted the name change. Unfortunately if you have joint legal with him you would NEED his permission to change it. At least that's how it is where I live, asked my attorney all these questions this morning. Good luck!
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  • hrking2011hrking2011
    imageLoveyFNR:
    How are you two on legal custody? Do you have sole legal custody? If so, you may be able to change it without his permission. If you do want to change it and need his permission you can take him to court. If he fails to show up to argue it then you will be granted the name change. Unfortunately if you have joint legal with him you would NEED his permission to change it. At least that's how it is where I live, asked my attorney all these questions this morning. Good luck!
    im not real sure to be honest. Im only 19. Im assuming I have sole custody since we've never done anything custody wise.
    Lilypie - Personal pictureLilypie Premature Baby tickers
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  • kmartinez80kmartinez80 member
    Having sole legal custody does not allow you to just change the child's name.  I have sole legal custody, but would still need to get XH's permission or go through the court if XH didn't give permission.  If it's something you really want to do then you should speak to a lawyer to determine your states specific laws and the process to go about doing it.
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  • cautionwillburneyescautionwillburneyes member
    I have sole legal and physical custody of my two sons.  All I had to do was have my lawyer publish the request for name change notice in the paper for 3 or 4 consecutive weeks and then attend the court hearing to have their last names changed to mine.  It was a pretty easy process and the court hearing took 10 minutes maybe.  I haven't regretted doing it at all.
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  • LoveyFNRLoveyFNR member

    imagekmartinez80:
    Having sole legal custody does not allow you to just change the child's name.  I have sole legal custody, but would still need to get XH's permission or go through the court if XH didn't give permission.  If it's something you really want to do then you should speak to a lawyer to determine your states specific laws and the process to go about doing it.

    I know, that's why I said it depends on where you live. A PP said she had sole legal and was able to change it without permission. I am in the situation where I cannot change it without XH's permission even with sole legal.

    Just call an attorney of family law and he should be able to tell you the process.

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