Pittsburgh Family Law Services, P.C. Blog

A question many women ask is whether they can change their child's last name when it becomes obvious the father does not want to be involved.  Often this question comes after many years of not seeing, communicating with, or having a relationship with the child.  Sometimes the mother may even be remarried and even have additional children with their new spouse, and changing the name feels like the best thing to do to help their child not feel "different."  

Pennsylvania does allow a parent to petition to change their child's last name.  This involves filing a petition for name change.  The petition itself lays out the reasons for the desired change.  If your child is over the age of 12, they will also have to submit fingerprints as part of the petition.  Once the petition is filed, you will be required to advertise and notify the other parent.  This is to ensure that anyone who would oppose the name change, which is most often the other parent in the case of minors, has the ability to appear in court and contest it.  There are very limited exceptions to this requirement, and you have to argue that your safety or your child's safety would be jeopardized if publication is required.  If this is your situation, it's very important to work with a lawyer because they will know how to best present that argument to the judge.  

Shortly before the hearing, you will have to perform a judgment search.  Although this sounds silly when you're changing a minor child's last name, sometimes minors do have creditors or judgments against them, which is why Pennsylvania requires this step.  Finally, you will go to the hearing, and the judge will make their decision on the name change at that time.  

A lot of parents wonder what happens if the other parent comes to the hearing and objects to the name change.  If that occurs, the hearing will not go forward that day.  Instead, it will be transferred to the Family Division of your local county, and a family court judge will determine whether the name change is in your child's best interest.  The specific procedures the judge uses to make that determination will depend on the individual county.  But the judge will look at the custody factors to make that decision.  These factors include looking at the relationship between your child and both parents, your child's preference, and whether there have been any attempts to alienate or turn your child against the other parent.  

Whenever you're looking to change a child's name, it's important that you work with a local custody lawyer.  Parents can and do appear in court to contest name changes, and your lawyer will be best able to tell you how to plan for that situation.