Re: Changing my son's last name?

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Need more info:
Were you were married to biodad?
Did biodad sign the birth certificate?
Did biodad do anything to legally establish his paternity to
the child?
If not, biodad has no rights whatsoever to the child and you
can change the child's name to anything you want. You do not
need anyone's permission except the State's permission to
change a vital statistic and that is done by filing an
application, etc.

fyi: A biodad does not simply "sign over" rights to a child.
Only a court can terminate parental rights and only after
parental rights are first legally established.

On 6/09/07, Dawn wrote:
> Okay here is my situation: My son is 5 years old. His
> father was around for the first 2 1/2 years then we split
> up. My son's last name is hyphynated. My last name then his
> father's last name. After we slipt up he didn't have very
> much to do with my son due to the new girl he is with. Last
> May he started talking about wanting to sign over his
> rights because he was tired of not being able to see his
> son. The thing is, I never told him he couldn't see his
> son. I just wanted 24 hours notice. That wasn't good
> enough. He wanted to be able to call me when he was around
> the cornor from my house and tell me to bring his son
> outside she he could see him for 10 mins. So, June of last
> year he gave up all of his custody. He pays no child
> support, has no visitation, and no custody. Now I want to
> take off his father's last name because I don't feel that
> he should have to walk around with the last name of a guy
> that he doesn't have anything to do with or even know for
> that matter. My son has only one memory of his father and
> that is when he spit in my face. That is the ONLY thing my
> son remembers about him. We live in Virginia and my
> question is this, do I have to get his permission to change
> my son's last name? I have heard that since he still has
> rights that I will have to have his permission but then
> other people have told me that since he has no custody I
> won't have to have his permission. ANy advice would be
> helpful. Thanks!