Changing a child's last name

[Hdivito]

Just wondering if anyone can tell me what my chances are of changing my 4 year old daughters last name to my last name. She has had no contact with her biological father and he has a long criminal history he is also currently incarcerated. I also have sole legal and physical custody. I have filed a petition and have a court date set up for next month. Just a little nervous as what to expect...any advice?

Thank You

 

[Sierrasmommy]

Just wondering if anyone can tell me what my chances are of changing my 4 year old daughters last name to my last name. She has had no contact with her biological father and he has a long criminal history he is also currently incarcerated. I also have sole legal and physical custody. I have filed a petition and have a court date set up for next month. Just a little nervous as what to expect...any advice?

Thank You

IM divorced from my daughters father and he has no legal visitation with her until further notice by the courts. I have asked about changing her last name from his to mine and I was told that he would have to sign for it. There is another way that a friend of mine in the same predicament used however. You can hyphenate (or however you spell it) the last name. So like if your last name is smith you could make the childs last name smith- jones and then only use smith. It would be like the fathers last name is only there in legal aspect but not actually used. May want to research on how to do this but this is what a good friend of mine did.