My question involves name change laws in the State of: FL
My daughter is 13 & her biological father waited until she was 12 before trying to have any contact or develop a relationship with her. He is not on her birth certificate because he refused to be a part of her life. We were never married so I gave her my maiden name (ex. Smith). There is a child support order which has identified him as her biological father through paternity testing. He complies with half of the order (pays monthly but never provided medical insurance as ordered) to avoid consequences such as garnishment & driver's license suspension (his license is currently suspended due to failure to pay back child support). In the last 16 months he has only seen her 7 times. He calls her for 2-5 minutes at a time so there's no real conversation there and he's been out of the country for the last 6 months.
In the last 12 years I have married & had 2 more children. From the day I married, my daughter called my husband Daddy and put my husband's name (ex. Jones) on her school papers as her own although we told her she did not have to do either. I didn't want her to feel left out when I changed my name after getting married so I hyphenated my name (Smith Jones). However, now that she has 2 siblings, she wants her name to reflect the relationship she has with her brothers, the family who has raised her, cared for her, and to whom she feels the greatest connection. She wants her last name to match mine (Smith Jones) so I have made a petition to the court change her name to match mine.
The biological father is protesting this name change & telling her that he will change her name to his whether she likes it or not (he has not filed a counter petition, only an answer contesting the request). He tells her that the man she calls dad is not a real father among a few other disparaging comments about her family. Things that shouldn't be said to a child.
I understand that the court may or may not grant my request but I must show that the name change is in her best interest. I understand that the fact the biological father has been a crappy absentee father does not change the fact that he is still biologically her father so that may not be enough to demonstrate that burden. So the question is, how do I show that this request is in her best interest?

