[Solved] Name change

I suspect that it will come to nothing, but it may be useful to do anyway - before you take any action, I'd write to your ex requesting that she changes it back again, the fact that you have tried this will help you in court, though what she has done is not legal anyway.

As a matter of interest, how did she do this? - I would have thought that if you produce a copy of the birth certificate, then they would have to change it back to comply with the law.

One for the Children's Legal Centre, as I don't know the specific procedures.

She changed his school, again without me knowing and did his name at the same time.

OK, that's something else she shouldn't have done - strictly speaking, as you have parental responsibility, you have a say in which schools your son goes to (I actually ignored this when I chose my daughter's school, but on the basis that my ex lives 200 miles away, doesn't know the area or the schools, and has shown no interest in my daughter's education for the last 3 years, I was prepared to argue my corner if it ever came up).

As a matter of interest, haev you spoken to your son about this - presumably he wasn't to happy with changing schools and being given a new name?

Welcome to Dad Talk Crunchie,

Its a shame your ex is doing this without your permission or agreement.

I will contact our leagal experts and ask them what advice they can give you. It might take a couple of days for them to respond.
You will see their response in this thread.

Crunchie

there is a great video on parental responsibilty on this page of the dadtalk site that you can watch whilst waiting for our legal experts at the CLC to get back to you.

http://www.dadtalk.co.uk/list_of_videos.php?filename=parental_responsibility

Dear crunchie,

Thank you for contacting the Children’s Legal Centre, an independent charity concerned with law and policy affecting children and young people.

If you have parental responsibility then your ex partner can not legally change your child’s name without your consent or a court order allowing her to do so.
Parents are however able to allow their children to use a ‘known as’ name, although all official documents and correspondence will still be in the child’s legal name.

If you are not happy with your child using another name then firstly you have the option of contacting the school, doctors etc in writing explaining that you have parental responsibility for your child and do not consent to him being called by a ‘known as’ name, and ask that they call him by his legal name.

You are also able to contact the mother (again in writing would be advisable) and explain that you do not consent to this and if she continues to allow the child to be called by the ‘known as’ name you will consider taking further action.

It is advisable that you attempt to resolve this yourself firstly as the court should only be used as a last option.

If this fails then the option that you will have is to make an application to court for a Prohibited Steps Order. This is an order to stop someone from doing something in relations to your child.

The court would look at all the circumstances and make an order based on what they believe to be best for the child in question. Generally the court are quite reluctant to allow a child’s name to be changed without good reason, especially if you have a relationship with your son, as the surname is viewed as an important part of a child’s identity and a family link.

Should you need to go to court, you can either represent yourself or instruct a solicitor to represent you, whichever you would prefer.
To represent yourself, you should download forms C100, CB1 and CB3 from www.hmcs.gov.uk and once completed file the C100 application at the Family Proceedings Court closest to where the child is living with the fee of £175.

The court will make you and your ex wife aware of any dates that you should attend court. They will then hear the case and decide what they believe to be best for your son and whether to grant you an order.

If an order is made, the mother will be breaching the court order if she allows your son to be called by any name other than his legal name. You will also be able to provide copies of the order to the school and any one else that uses the ‘known as’ name and they should stop doing this.
Should the mother breach any order made then court may penalise her for this.

We hope this information is useful to you, should you require any further advice please contact the Child Law Advice Line on 0808 8020 008 and an advisor will be happy to help.

Kind Regards

Children’s Legal Centre