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I want to change my daughters last name

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  • 11-03-2006, 02:57 PM
    amynbob51306
    I want to change my daughters last name
    my daughter is almost 5 now...her biological father is a dead beat dad...his name is on her birth certificate and she has his last name. He was only around for the first year of her life, and does not pay support. I am currently remarried living in Florida and my husband accepts my daughter as his own. How can i change her name (to my married name) if i don't know where her biological father is?? and even if we did know where he is (last i heard he was living in a motel somewhere in vermont)...i know he wouldn't consent to the change just to spite me.

    any info would be appreciated on fl name change laws, etc.

    thank you.
  • 11-05-2006, 09:45 AM
    Mr. Knowitall
    Re: I want to change my daughters last name
    You would go to court in whatever state has jurisdiction over the custody aspects of the case, apparently Florida, and attempt to convince the court that a name change is in the best interests of your daughter.
  • 11-05-2006, 05:02 PM
    amynbob51306
    Re: I want to change my daughters last name
    How would we iniciate that? there is no pending cases regarding custody, child support and there has never been any. Now, you said that what ever court has jurisidicition...would that be Florida since that is where we reside or would it be where she was born?

    As far as convincing the courts, what would we have to do...and what about not knowing the whereabouts of her biological??

    thanks for your help.
  • 11-05-2006, 05:11 PM
    Mr. Knowitall
    Re: I want to change my daughters last name
    So when you say he's never paid support, it is because you've never gone to court for a support order.

    Go to the court in the county where the child presently resides, and petition for a name change of a minor. That court should have jurisdiction. They may even have forms. If you can't find the father, ask the court to permit substituted service.
  • 11-08-2006, 09:21 PM
    amynbob51306
    Re: I want to change my daughters last name
    I went to the court house today and picked up a packet to petition to change her name. In the packet it says that you have to make a diligent effort to locate the biological. What is considered diligent effort???

    and also if we do constructive service, which i understand is by publication, do i put it in the paper of his last known residence which was in vermont, or do we put in the paper where we currently reside, Florida??

    thanks for your help...
  • 11-09-2006, 10:08 AM
    Mr. Knowitall
    Re: I want to change my daughters last name
    I doubt that you're going to find an iteration of exactly what you must do to be deemed "diligent". Make your best effort.

    As for substituted service, as you were previously told, the court should define what is sufficient. Putting a notice in a paper nowhere near where the father lives, though, would do nothing to give him notice.
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