Changing a child's surname

[lorla]

My fiance's ex-girlfriend wants to change their daughters name so it is the same as her boyfriend. I just want to check what rights she has - she says she needs his permission/he needs to sign a form and I wanted to see if anyone knows if this is the case?

From what I gather from the net, if you have 'parental responsibility' then you have a say and you have to agree before it can go ahead and I think that in order to have 'parental responsibility' you have to be named on the birth certificate, pay regular maintenance and be in regular contact - all of which he does.

Can anyone confirm.

Ta

[whiffiy]

no they dont need permission.
fact

[Goodsoulette]

She needs his permission. If he doesn;t sign it then she can't change it. She can take him to court but if he his doing all of the above then its highly unlikely the court will rule in her favour.

[4GS]

If she lives in Scotland she can change the child's name without the father's permission. However I'm sure she will need his consent if she and the child live in England.

[whiffiy]

no she doesnt 4GS you are wrong. it has happened to me and i didnt need to give my permission

[Goodsoulette]

I should add as long as the child was born after 2003 and then they both need to send a letter to te deed poll service that loks like this.

http://www.ukdps.co.uk/LettersOfConsent3.html

[andrea81]

Yes he does need to give permission. I think the rules change when the father hasn't seen the child for a certain amount of years but I'm not sure of how long.

[whiffiy]

ok well mine was born 1997 so could be true

[Goodsoulette]

Unmarried fathers in Scotland have had parental responsibility (as long as they are on the birth certificate) since 2006.

[Goodsoulette]

It's the standard 7 years, I think, andrea.

[lorla]

Thanks - hope you're right Goodsoulette and others....it seems absurd that someone can change your child's name without your permission.

Ta

[MORELLO]

It all depends upon who has parental responsibility. Mum automatically has it - unless stripped of it by a court for some reason - Dad has it if the child was born after 2003 and he is present at registration and his name is on the certificate. Maintainence/contact doesn't matter - it would if she was trying to move to Spain - if he hasn't got equal responsibility he will not get a say in something like a change of name.

[rosie1965]

i dont she can change her name w/o his permission unless of course the new b/f is adopting her. what happens in the furture if they finish and she gets another b/f will she want to change the childs name again. has anyone ask the child what she would like?

[shaylee]

cant legally change the surname without written consent of the father. although they can change it within school etc and be called whatever they like as long as all legal documents have the original surname on it.
believe me, myself and my partner have just been through this with his ex wife and we became very aware of the legalities of this.

[flflflflflfl]

when i registered my sons birth i gave him his dads sirname as we were unmarried and the registrar told me i wont be able to change it if i marry someone else but could if it was my sirname. hope this helps!

[JulieRaynard]

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