Child Name Hyphenation

[alaskahead]

I am not sure where to start with my question/problem. I would like to hyphenate my daughter's last name with my new married last name. She is 7 and asked if she could have the same last name as me and my husband, her step-father. She was born in MD, we are moving to VA (we are military), I am a resident of AK and her biological father lives in OR. I do not know which state to start the proceedings! Her biological father is okay with the name hyphenation. Help!

[LawResearcherMissy]

You need to start the proceedings in the state in which you reside.

If you're going to be in Alaska a while longer, do it there. Otherwise, wait until you've established residency in Virginia and do it there.

[alaskahead]

Law researcher missy,

Thanks so much for the advise! We are leaving AK in about 3 wks so I guess i'll wait until we get to VA.

Thanks again.