My fiance and I have been together for the last four years and are getting married in a few days. I have a 12 year old and an 8 year old from my first marriage that have been waiting for this marriage because they want to take the last name of their "dad" which is who and what my fiance has been to them for the last four years. Their biological father has little to no involvement in their lives, he takes me to court once every 18 months when he gets mad over something, yet he sees the children maybe once or twice a year and calls them on average once a month if that. We have gone to court ordered counseling for over a year because he doesn't like my fiance and wanted to change custody, yet he had no relationship with the children and that was the point of counseling to try to re-establish a relationship with them, that again he never followed through with. We live in Indiana, my fiance wants to adopt them once we are married and he and the children would like to change the last name. What are the options and how do we go about it?

