Legal Question in Family Law in Kentucky

I live in Northern Kentucky, I obtained a divorce in 2007. My ex-husband did not even attend the proceedings, therefore I was awarded the divorce as well as "The petitioner is awarded full custody of the parties' minor children." My ex has not seen the children since March of 2005. I am now preparing to get married to a wonderful man who wishes to eventually adopt my two children. My ex is currently serving 60 days for failure to pay his child support, he has not paid one penny and owes arrears of over $16,000. I know that he will never pay, he truly is an apathetic person. My question is this, I want to go ahead and change my childrens' last name to match mine and my fiance. I have obtained the paperwork from the court to start the process. My question is with the above stated that I have "full" custody, do I have to obtain his signature on the change form or is this within my legal rights to do so on my own now? Essentially, please define what "full" custody means in the state of Kentucky.


Asked on 1/21/10, 5:09 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Bryan Gowin Bryan Gowin Attorney at Law

You have to give him notice of a name change, but since you have sole custody you have an argument that you get to decide. sole or full custody means that you have the sole decision making authority with respect to the children. I would also suggest you consider adoption instead of the name change. There is a procedure for doing a contested adoption against your ex and it sounds like you could be successful since he is not paying support and not seeing the children (although it could get ugly).

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Answered on 1/26/10, 8:58 am


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