Father Wants to Change Son's Last Name to His
My question involves name change laws in the State of:
My son is almost two in two month and the father of my child took me to court for paternity and the results came out back his (even tho i already knew our son was his). the father of my son left me a week before i found out i was a month pregnant and the whole time he said our son wasn't his and he knew for sure he wasn't but now he knows hes his he he wants to change my sons last name to his or hyphenate it with ours both put together but on the birth certificate my son has my last name. At first i wasn't going to let him see his child because of all the drugs and how hes an unfit parent but then he showed interest in our son for about a month then after he he hasn't tried coming to see his child or even message me asking bout him he just met him last Mid-December and showed interest in January now its February and hasn't seen him once or anything and every time he makes plans to see him he never messages me or shows up to see his child. i feel like I'm giving him everything so easy.we live in AZ do you know if the judge will change our sons last name to his or hyphenate it? our son has a real long name already he has two middle names and i don't want it to be difficult for him to be writing his two middle names and two last names and i don't want him to have his fathers last name because he hasn't been there this whole time till now (hes kinda there but really isn't)when my sons almost two.
so my question is would the judge change my sons last name to his or would he hyphenate it?
Re: Father Wants to Change Sons Last Name to His
(Please understand that visitation is not up to you, nor is it your decision whether or not the child's name is changed)
With a young child, the NCP can argue that the child is not attached to the current name and if the parents don't agree, a hyphenated name is often what the court will order.
The chances? Keep your name OR Dad's name: 50/50. Hyphenated: much better.