Can anybody help?

ashlynch

Hi,

I had my son when i was 17, his dad hasn't seen him siince he was 1, he is now 9, I am with my current b/friend 6 years and we are now talking of marriage and more children.. My question is when we marry, could I change my son's surname as well? As I don't want children with different surnames.. How easy/hard is it to be done? My son's dad's name is on his birth cert, don't no if this makes a difference..

tan

As far as i know your new partner has to adopt your son, im not sure an whether you need his real dads permission, if you go to your local civic centre they can give you the advice u need, if not ring up Dolphin house, its a family court & they'l tell you how to go about it. good luck

ashlynch

Ye, I had a feeling that would be the solution, just I know a couple that went through the adoption process, it is a very lenghty process and in the end they got refused!!!

Kildrought

You don't have to adopt a child to change the name! All that's required is to start using the new surname and it becomes the legal name by common usage.

You can also do this by deed poll if you wish; but it's not necessary. However you might like to discuss this with your son, at age 9 he's old enough to have an opinion on the matter - is his current surname yours or your former partners?

ashlynch

It is my surname, he has already said he wants to change his name when we marry, it was him that suggested it, I wouldn't have considered it otherwise!! He says it would be silly if we didn't all have the same surname!!

Rogueish

He's looking to be a part of the 'new' family in every way and other than that he's pretty relaxed and cool about the whole thing. He's just moving on with you. You will (probably) be changing your name and he wants to do the same.

I'd try to go the deed poll route as the whole adoption thing could get messy especially if hour sons father decided to put a spanner into he works.

And by the way congratulations on the upcoming nuptials.