ex Changed my child's surname

lifeandtimes

Hi,

Not looling for legal advice as i am going to a solictor during the week but can anyone
advise me on this?

I recently found out that my ex has placed our child into a creche and registered her last name as hers when she was registered on her birth cert as mine

Can I go to the courts and put in a request to have this changed?

Or am I stuck and nothing can be done?

I'm legal guardian by the way.

Has this happend to anyone else before and where the able to get it resolved?

Miaireland

Before you go down the legal route maybe check with your ex that this was not an admin error. I know one of my youngest cousins was registered in her creche with her mothers maidin name. Her mother uses her maidin name and the person taking the details just assumed that the child would have the same surname as her mother. It could be a genuine error.

seamus

It's actually a little bit irrelevant. She can register the child with an entirely different name in the creche if she wishes.

Names in Ireland aren't really that set in stone, and you're basically free to use any name you like, except on official forms. Even then you can use any name provided you can prove that's the name you normally go by.

So there's nothing stopping parents from using their own surname when registering their child. Likewise children are free to choose either parental surname.

In this case, as Mia says it's most likely that the creche put the surname down to match the mother's. Or that your ex thought it would be easier all round to just use her own name, and avoid any questions or conversation.

It's not something worth getting worked up about.

lifeandtimes

I understand there can be an admin error but this certainly was not,I belive she is going to try and legally change it through common usage and I don't want that to happen

Putting aside opinions of its nothing to get worked up about and it'd irrelevant in the grand scheme of things I'm looking for opinions on previous experience and are there avenues I can take to resolve this so I don't feel like I have nowhere to go

P. Breathnach

In the greater scheme of things, how important an issue is it? The fact that the child was initially registered with your surname is a convention. She might just as easily have been registered with your ex's surname.

Your relationship with the child is far more important. It's probably best not to get sidetracked from that.