My question involves name change laws in the State of: child is in Arkansas father is in Florida
My husband and I just found out he has a daughter that is 16 years old. Her mother never contacted him until two months ago. We took a "non-legal" paternity test and it came back positive. My step-daughter was adopted by her ex-step-father some years back. She has asked me to find out if she can legally change her last name to my husband's name. Is this possible without her mother's consent or do we need to go through the courts? Also, does anyone know why her ex-step-father was allowed to adopt her without my husband signing away any rights being that he didn't know of her existance? This is all new to us and we are clueless as to whether or not we have any rights to her at all. We do not want to drag her into and out of court but we are willing to do so only if ABSOLUTELY necessary. She has gone through enough emotional turmoil (as we all have) in the last 60 days.
Thank you.![]()

