Changing My Minor Son's Last Name
My question involves family law in the State of: tennessee
my son is two and a half years old he has my maiden name in my husband I got married almost a year ago my husband is not his biological dad and he does not have his biological dads last name he has my maiden name how can I get that changed to my married name?
Re: Changing My Minor Son's Last Name
What you're referring to is seen in the courts as a "backdoor" adoption, whereby the goal of changing a child's name it to make it appear as if the child is the child of your new husband, when he isn't. Courts don't do that. If you want your child to have your husband's last name, he'll need to adopt the child.
Re: Changing My Minor Son's Last Name
In fact, courts do allow that. The child doesn't have the name of either parent, so it's reasonable for the child's name to be changed to that of one parent or the other. Dad is free to suggest that the name be changed to something else (e.g., his own surname, a hyphenated name involving his surname and the mother's past or present surname), and the court would consider his petition. If dad is properly served with notice of the name change proceeding and does not object to the petition, then the mother has a good chance of prevailing under the circumstances.