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Can Your Ex- Change Your Child's Last Name Without Telling You

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  • 12-07-2016, 03:34 PM
    GLB1967
    Can Your Ex- Change Your Child's Last Name Without Telling You
    My question involves name change laws in the State of: Missouri and kansas. Can a ex legally change the name of a child without notifying the father? She left me sitting a friends house with a broke leg and never came back. She told me she had to choose between them or me. She picked them. I never heard from her again. We were never married but the child had/has my last name. The child now uses her mother's married name. I could never find her. The child told me that she has always used that name. That is the name her mother told her it was. How can I find out if she changed her name. I have to say I am black the mother is not. Her parents never wanted us to be together.
  • 12-07-2016, 03:41 PM
    Dogmatique
    Re: Can Your Ex- Change Your Child's Last Name Without Telling You
    There are ways she could have done this, yes.

    Do you see your child? If not, why not?

    What's the timeline?
  • 12-07-2016, 03:46 PM
    adjusterjack
    Re: Can Your Ex- Change Your Child's Last Name Without Telling You
    Quote:

    My question involves name change laws in the State of: Missouri and kansas. Can a ex legally change the name of a child without notifying the father?
    No. A "legal" name change of a minor requires the consent of the other parent and a court order.

    However, it is common for the custodial parent to have the child use the parent's last name without consent and can get away with it as long as the child's last name is accepted by schools and government. Eventually, there will be issues when some entity or other requires a birth certificate as identification and then the parent will have to address the requirement of consent for a court ordered name change.

    Quote:

    She left me sitting a friends house with a broke leg and never came back. She told me she had to choose between them or me. She picked them. I never heard from her again. We were never married but the child had/has my last name. The child now uses her mother's married name. I could never find her. The child told me that she has always used that name. That is the name her mother told her it was. How can I find out if she changed her name.
    Run the child's current last name or your ex's married name through the court records of whatever counties they have been living in and see if there is a case file for a name change.
  • 01-03-2017, 12:30 PM
    qwaspolk69
    Re: Can Your Ex- Change Your Child's Last Name Without Telling You
    My brother's stepson uses his last name at school. But legally they haven't changed it. The 'father' is MIA quite frequently.
  • 01-03-2017, 02:47 PM
    Taxing Matters
    Re: Can Your Ex- Change Your Child's Last Name Without Telling You
    Quote:

    Quoting adjusterjack
    View Post
    No. A "legal" name change of a minor requires the consent of the other parent and a court order.

    One possible exception to that, however, is if there is no legally determined father. The OP says that he and the mother were never married. As a result, one of two things generally had to happen for him to be determined the legal father of the child: (1) he and the mother executed a voluntary affidavit of paternity or (2) a petition is filed in court by the mother or the putative father to determine paternity and the court rules that the putative father is indeed the father of the child. He does not say that he did either one, so it is possible that right now he is not the legal father of the child. Until he is the legal father, he has no rights under the law with regard to that child but also does not have an obligation of support either.
  • 01-03-2017, 08:42 PM
    llworking
    Re: Can Your Ex- Change Your Child's Last Name Without Telling You
    Quote:

    Quoting Taxing Matters
    View Post
    One possible exception to that, however, is if there is no legally determined father. The OP says that he and the mother were never married. As a result, one of two things generally had to happen for him to be determined the legal father of the child: (1) he and the mother executed a voluntary affidavit of paternity or (2) a petition is filed in court by the mother or the putative father to determine paternity and the court rules that the putative father is indeed the father of the child. He does not say that he did either one, so it is possible that right now he is not the legal father of the child. Until he is the legal father, he has no rights under the law with regard to that child but also does not have an obligation of support either.

    In addition, there is also the possibility of being served by publication if at some point in the scenario the OP was no where to be found by the mother.

    So, there are ways that mom could have obtained a legal name change for the child, even without dad's consent. Odds are that mom did not actually do so and the child is simply using a different last name, but it cannot be ruled out, at least with the information we have so far.
  • 01-04-2017, 09:22 AM
    Danasis
    Re: Can Your Ex- Change Your Child's Last Name Without Telling You
    Quote:

    Quoting GLB1967
    View Post
    We were never married but the child had/has my last name.

    Has a court ruled that you are the legal father of the child?

    What state does the child live in now and how long has the child lived there?
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