Changing a Child's Last Name to His Stepfather's
My question involves name change laws in the State of: New York - Suffolk County
My 11 year old son has been asking to change his last name to my husband's for the past 3-4 years. His biological father does not participate in any of his daily activities whatsoever. Last time we heard from him he was living in another state (California) and promised to call my son back but never did. He does pay the child support but never on time. He actually has about 2 grand that he owes. My question is how do I go about changing my son's last name? I know I have to fill out the forms in suffolk county family court and I also know that I have to get consent from the biological father. What I would like to know is if it's enough that he hasn't seen or has been an active participant of his life so that I do not need his consent to change his last name? The biological father is somewhat of a conspiracy theorist and I believe he has some type of marijuana business in California. Would this be something I can bring up in court? Also - would this be just a name change or would it become an adoption?
Re: Son's Last Name Change to Stepfather's
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suffolkcountymom
My question involves name change laws in the State of: New York - Suffolk County
My 11 year old son has been asking to change his last name to my husband's for the past 3-4 years. His biological father does not participate in any of his daily activities whatsoever. Last time we heard from him he was living in another state (California) and promised to call my son back but never did. He does pay the child support but never on time. He actually has about 2 grand that he owes. My question is how do I go about changing my son's last name? I know I have to fill out the forms in suffolk county family court and I also know that I have to get consent from the biological father. What I would like to know is if it's enough that he hasn't seen or has been an active participant of his life so that I do not need his consent to change his last name? The biological father is somewhat of a conspiracy theorist and I believe he has some type of marijuana business in California. Would this be something I can bring up in court? Also - would this be just a name change or would it become an adoption?
According to the NYC court website:
"If you are a parent or legal guardian and want to change a child's name you need a notarized consent form signed by any other parent or legal guardian. If you can't get consent then you have to give the other parent or legal guardian notice of the name change case and come back to court to see the Judge. If you don't have an address for the other parent you must take steps to locate him or her. If you still can't find the other parent you can explain this to the court and ask for the name change without the other parent's consent."
http://www.nycourts.gov/courts/nyc/c...echanges.shtml
I know, you're not in NYC. Check your local court rules. You'll probably find that they might be similar.
You can bring up anything in court that you want to bring up. Whether it does you any good or not is impossible to predict but here are my thoughts.
The child support - no. There are things you can do to enforce child support. Being behind in payments doesn't strip the father of his rights.
Lack of participation in your son's daily activities - no. Get a grip, woman. He lives in CA and you live in NY.
Conspiracy theorist - no. If every parent who was a little nuts lost their parental rights, there would be millions more children as wards of the state than there are now.
Marijuana business in California - no. It's legal in California and in several other states.
A name change and an adoption are two different things. A name change doesn't become an adoption but an adoption could involve a name change. Adoption is a much more complicated and separate process.
Re: Son's Last Name Change to Stepfather's
The court does not like backdoor adoptions.
No, he hasn't lost his rights. You can't replace him without going to court.
With that said, "she" can indeed approach the court and times are changing - every state will look at the lack of financial support so yes, it can be a factor and yes, it can be used against Dad.
Re: Son's Last Name Change to Stepfather's
"Get a grip"? Seriously - I'm not stupid. Of course I know he can't be involved since he's miles away. The point is he moved to California without notifying anyone. Neither my son or I know when he left the state. While he was in NY, he CHOSE not to be involved in my son's life. Often times even leaving us waiting for him to show up at our designated meet up spot. I even took him to court for missing visitation. Now he proceeds to slander me on social media saying I am restricting him from seeing "his son" when in reality he doesn't even try to call. Not to mention, how the courts target and incarcerate fathers; and how the NYS court system broke his bond with "his child". He was never interested in having a bond in the first place. He could have easily sought out his son while he was still in NY but he chose to never contact his son and then proceeded to move to California.
The rest it's just honest questions I had. I didn't think the conspiracy thing mattered. I just wanted to confirm. And I doubt his marijuana "business" is legal at all. He's too anti-government to get permission to do what he already has done for years.
I will reach out to the courts in my area. Thank you for your time and for clarifying.