My Child Doesnt Know His Last Name

My question involves name change laws in the State of: MI & IN

My son is 3 and I have been taking care of him on my own since he was 10 months without the help of his biological father. I have gone through the court system in Indiana (where he was born) to obtain child support and custody of my son. The father has since married another woman and does not want anything to do with my child (although child support is garnished from his wages bc he had failed to pay anything for almost 2 years). I am now living in Michigan and am in a relationship with my boyfriend and we intend on marrying, but not anytime soon. He is the only father my son knows and we would like for my son to have my boyfriends last name before he starts kindergarten. Is it possible for us to have his last name changed to my boyfriends last name before marrying? And do we need consent from the biological father? If so, how do we go about doing this.

Any other additional details needed please let me know.

Thank you.

And it's important that you know that even IF dad consents to the name change, such a change does NOT create ANY type of legal bond between your BF and your child. Simply changing child's last name is only cosmetic -dad will still legally be dad, and your BF/future husband will still be a legal stranger to your child. After you've married, and if dad is willing to consent, your future husband can adopt your child if he's so inclined. What you're attempting to do is what is typically referred to as a "backdoor" adoption, and the burden will be on you to show why the court should take away the child's current last name that he shares with his father and replace it with the name of a person who is a legal stranger (court's rarely approve of this, because it is deceptive in nature).

Not only do I agree with what has been mentioned, but you are trying to emotionally give your child to someone you have not even married. What happens when you finally marry and you both stop auditioning. You may find you hate the person you are married to or vice versa.

@aardvarc - my boyfriend does intend to adopt my son once we are married. my son does not know or remember his biological dad at all and his dad has no interest whatsoever in having a relationship with him. do you by chance know what the stipulations are in order for us to proceed with adoption once my bf and i get married? ive been told the potential adoptive parent needs to meet certain criteria (ie: living with the child for a proposed amount of time)

It's also critical that your son knows the truth about his heritage. From the earliest point possible.

@Dogmatique - i dont even know his heritage on his bio-dads side...he was adopted. but im not about to go and confuse my 3 year old child and tell him he has another dad when that man and his family for that matter were never interested in having a relationship with him. i gave them every opportunity to. and instead while they turned their back, my current bf and his entire family took him in as if he was always a part of their family. will we tell him eventually? yes...when he is old enough to understand. my boyfriend has every intention of being his father for the rest of his life. its just unfortunate that we cant make it legally official until after we are married.

Okey dokey.

Be prepared for the devastation you'll cause, and a lot of resentment from your son when he finds out the two people he trusts the most have lied to him all that time.