could someone please help me. i need advice about changing my son's name. reason #1:when i named my son, i was not aware that his presumed father's last name is not [I]his[I] biological name, it's a name he got stuck with because [I]his[I] mom was still legally married to a man that wasn't his father. my son's presumed father was not there to sign the birth certificate. so i realize that he has no legal rights and since he wasn't there to name him or has any rights, do i really have to get his permission to change it? i thought i read that before somewhere, but i can't find the website where i read it. since i'm never getting back with him, i don't think he'll sign for the change, even though he knows that that name isn't anyone's biological name. he would deny the petition just so their names will be the same, even though he's had no part in his life. (we were together for the first 2 1/2 yrs. of his life, but he never seemed interested in family life, so i let him go. since then, we've only seen his face a handful of times. )
reason #2: the presumed father's family had conflicts with some people, so they all moved away, and my son is the only one left here with that name, so he sticks out like a sore thumb to anyone looking to get revenge on a member of their family. i don't want those people to get wind that he's here and it's hard to do that if my son is now in school stuck with that name and i can't change it.
any help would be greatly appreciated.
thankyou,

