Help... SOMEONE PLEASE ANSWER MY QUESTION????????

Question

my daughter and i live in california and she wants to change her last name to mine.... the thing we need to know is how would i go about doing this... her father is absent and has been all her life i have full custody of my daughter is there anyway to do this without getting her "dad" involved???

Answer 1

There is a simple process to follow. In most states you file a petition with the District Court of your county. The petition asks for your daughter's name to be changed. You then have to publish a notice in the paper of record for your county (the courts will tell you which) for a certain number of days continuously. Once you prove that the notice has been published the required number of days you can go before the judge and it is done.

You might want to hire an attorney to file the paperwork and make sure everything gets done correctly. You will have to notify the schools, your daughter's doctors' offices and a few other places about the change once it goes through.

Answer 2

Yeah, if you have full custody of her then you have to go through the court system of changing her name. Note there is quite a bit of paper work and the process itself takes time and you have to go about changing info on her SS, birth certificates, medical registration, info at her school, bank account info, etc. All of which have their own places where you have to wait in more lines. It's really just a prolonged waiting game.

You can start the process at your local superior court. You might want to make an appointment, other wise you can wait hours in line. Make sure you know in advance what to bring in cause that would suck if you go there and were told you need something you don't have.

As far as getting her father involved, there is nothing to have him involved if you have full custody of her. But keep in mind that it is a rather complicated process and can take several months. It certainly won't be an overnight thing.

Answer 3

Sure - depending on the age of the daughter - if she is legal age she can do it herself by filing in a District Court - for a name change. She will have to make an Affidavit that is sworn to under oath before a Notary Public who then will sign the document as well - and that Affidavit will be the basis for the filing in the District Court.

In the Affidavit she will have to list reason why she wants to change it and to swear to not doing it for unlawful reasons - like trying to out whit creditors or lose a record of felonies or such as that.

If SHE IS UNDER AGE ... then what you need to do - is run a PUBLIC NOTICE in the newspaper in the town, city or whatever - that your daughter was born in, saying that she wants to change her name to such and such, you need to give all her specifics such as what you said above in the question - that she is not wanting to do it for unlawful reasons and/or etc.; and,

You must give opportunity for anyone to object to her doing so - You need a Notary Public or ... I hate to say it - as it is not necessary to do so ... but; a lawyer or attorney ...

And list their address in the Public Notice - that if any objections are made to your daughter's desire to change her name - then those objecting must create an Affidavit and send it to the address (I will say Notary Public as it will be much cheaper ... and actually MORE POWERFUL AND TRUSTWORTHY ... no malice intended - just a fact) ...

And it must be sent by Certified mail with Return Receipt Requested that the objections may be duly noted and presented to the honorable judge presiding at time of the hearing for the granting/denial of the name change requested.

Give 31 calendar days to respond and mention that the 31 days starts with the first posting of the Public Notice ...

This way, if none object and the Notary Public recieves no objections - he will also make an affidavit to have the judge presented ... WITH the Public Notice that has run in the paper of the place of her birth - for 4 consecutive weeks - and nobody objected and therefore should be granted.

If there were objections - the Notary Public will state in the Affidavit the number of objecitons with the pertinent information to identify the certified letters by return receipt Numbers ... and then you will have to let the judge decide if it was just nut cases objecting or if it were legitimate objections and he/she will decide from there.

Judge should sign the order for around $250.00 for what I remember ... signatures are high now of days - and of course - that was a name change in Texas, not California.

Hope this answered your question

Peace;

Aintmyfault
.

Answer 4

While a lot of the above is not necessarily incorrect, if you follow this link you will get a full explanation of how to go about getting this name change, with all the necessary forms, provided by the Judicial Council of California and valid in the entire state.

http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp/other/namechange.htm

Answer 5

nolo says:
You can change your own name or the name of your child through the court method. You can switch to just about any name you want, with a few exceptions:

You can't change your name to the same name as a famous person if you're doing it for fraudulent purposes or to benefit financially, or if it will cast the famous person in a negative light.
You usually can't use fictitious names that are protected by copyright (like Harry Potter or R2D2).
You can't use racial slurs or fighting words

Answer 6

See a lawyer. He'll be able to guide you thru the paperwork and deal with the judge for you. It will cost, but it shouldn't be real expensive.

Answer 7

You need to go to your local superior court of your county and fill out the paperwork there.