Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Re: Legal right to surname

One cannot force another to change his/her name, regardless of any facts you have suggested. The only time I can imagine a court would ever consider requiring a person to change his/her name would be if a person was misappropriating the identity of someone else to an astonishing degree. Even then, I don't think a court would ever actually do it. I'm curious to see what other attorneys think.

Best of luck

Re: Legal right to surname

The Divorce court does not have the power to make a person change their name. The only possibility for such an order would be that if the person was using the name for fraudulent purposes. The remedy then would be to have criminal charges filed against the person.

Re: Legal right to surname

The ex-husband has no right to control his ex-wife's use of her married name and, even if he did, the court has no authority to order her to revert to her maiden name. If he doesn't want her using his name, he will either have to learn to live with it or bargain with the ex-wife to make it worth her while to request a change herself.