My question involves name change laws in the State of: GEORGIA
My wife has two children with two different fathers. One father is wonderful and very active with his daughter, pays child support timely, etc. The other, not so much...tells "Suzzie" (my step-daughter) he's coming to see her (1.5hr away) and never shows, we constantly have to bug him about paying child support, etc. Suzzie told me today that she would like to have my last name. Some tell me I would need to adopt and that would negate her real fathers obligation to pay child support and some say a simply request of the courts for name chage would be sufficient and her real father would still be required to pay child support. I would think we could just petition the court for "Suzzie's" name to be changed without formal adoption and her real father would still be required to pay child support. We don't really have the money to pay thousands in attorney fees either. Any suggestions?![]()

