Legal Question in Family Law in Iowa

Re: Name Change for 14-year-old

This would be governed by Iowa Code chapter 674. You are required to provide legally sufficient notice to the other parent. If you cannot locate him by the exercise of reasonable diligence, you can have service made by publication according to the Iowa Rules of Civil Procedure.

674.6 Notice--consent.

If the petitioner is married, the petitioner must give legal notice to the spouse, in the manner of an original notice, of the filing of the petition. If the petition includes or is filed on behalf of a minor child fourteen years of age or older, the child's written consent to the change of name of that child is required. If the petition includes or is filed on behalf of a minor child under fourteen, both parents as stated on the birth certificate of the minor child shall file their written consent to the name change. If one of the parents does not consent to the name change, a hearing shall be set on the petition on twenty days' notice to the non-consenting parent pursuant to the rules of civil procedure. At the hearing the court may waive the requirement of consent as to one of the parents if it finds:

1. That the parent has abandoned the child;

2. That the parent has been ordered to contribute to the support of the child or to financially aid in the child's birth and has failed to do so without good cause; or

3. That the parent does not object to the name change after having been given due and proper notice.