My son has my boyfriends last name but I'd like to change it so it's hyphened with mine, can I do that??

Question

And where do I begin to start the process of changing his last name?? Do I have to have my boyfriends approval to add my last name??

Answer 1

The only approval you need is from the government. And as long as you have the (I'm guessing about) $200, they'll approve anything. You need to go to the civic/municipal/county/court office and fill out some forms.

Answer 2

This will depend on the law in your state. In my state I'm pretty sure that--once a child has been given the father's name--you cannot change it without his approval. It may not be quite so difficult since you are not proposing getting rid of the name, just adding to it. But the laws were almost certainly written before hyphenating names became common. The chances are the question will turn on whether the court views this as a name change or a name addition. If you did not hyphenate the last name but rather just added in your own, that might be easier to do without dad's approval. For example: Kevin Mark Finchley would become Kevin Mark Ross Finchley rather than Kevin Mark Ross-Finchley or Kevin Mark Finchley-Ross. You could hyphenate unofficially. Just make sure that you use the proper name when filling out documents with any legal effect.

Answer 3

as cute and fun as it is to have a hyphenated name, it will wreak havoc on the poor child for the rest of his life. from the perspective of keeping records and documentation for the child, you need to pick ONE name and use it.

Answer 4

Why do you want to hyphen it? Just so when he's in school his name will be twice as long to write?

Answer 5

Get a lawyer and go through court to have it changed. And YES you need him to b ok with it.

Answer 6

Go to your local courthouse