My question involves name change laws in the State of: Tennessee
I really hope someone can help me get this ball on a roll... First thing I need to state is I do not have a lot of extra money to spare for legal fees, but this is a very important issue to me that I want fixed ASAP!! I need to know where to start on the process of having my daughter's last name changed and
having her "father's" (not worthy of that title, so hate to even use that term) name removed from the birth certificate. My daughter is 4 years old and I made the mistake of letting her
biological father sign the birth certificate when she was born. I hyphenated her name with his-mine because I just knew he wasn't going to stick around and be in her life and I regret ever giving him the opportunity to sign the BC, but at the time I felt it was the right thing to do as a parent to give the chance.
My daughter does have a Dad in her life that has raised her & is the ONLY Father she knows. We currently have our 2nd child on the way & plan to marry after the birth of our new baby girl!! The
sperm donor of my 4 year old is no where to be found & I honestly
don't care to ever know where he is at because my daughter is completely card for and loved and I don't want him in her life for various reasons. The only contact we have had with him since the day he left the state of TN when she was 18 months old was a death threat just shortly before her 3rd birthday. Before leaving TN he wasn't involved in her life and did not help out financially!! When he left at the age of 18 months old he was supposedly going to CA but could also possibly be in Honduras at this time. Come to find out
her sperms donor was an illegal alien!! I did not know this when I met him & didn't find out until shortly before her birth when he was arrested for DUI & false identification!! I knew he had moved here from Honduras, but he had all this fake paperwork that made it look as if he was legal!!... talk about feeling really stupid on my part... he had me and many others fooled. He's an
abusive con artist and from the little I've stated so far, I hope is enough to help yall see why I wouldn't want him to have any attachment or right to our lives!! When he sent a threat to before her 3rd birthday, he stated he would kill me and take to Honduras where she would never be found and he also stated he had no problem killing her too if I ever attempted to pursue child support. This was of course reported to authorities and a temporary order of protection was put into place but I was unable to ever go to court to have a full order of protection put into place because I didn't even have a last known address to serve him at!!
So he's been of no support financially or parentally, and has also threatened our lives. With another child on the way and my daughter about to start school, I would love for all of our names to match, being that my fiance is willing to adopt her, but in the mean time, I would like to at least drop his name and remove him from the BC. What are my options?? Where do I even start with something like this. It all seems so complicated and scary!! Please someone help me!!