Legal Question in Family Law in New York

I'm a U.S. citizen residing in New York. I recently married a woman of English and Belgian citizenship who has a 5-yr-old daughter from her previous husband of Austrian and Israeli citizenship. The child has an English passport only. Her biological father doesn't pay any child support and doesn't have visitation rights to or custody of the child. We're now interested in changing the child's legal family name to our name. Is there any way we can do that without requiring the biological father's consent?

thanks

Samuel T. Roche


Asked on 11/23/09, 12:41 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Elizabeth Karnazes New York Offices of Elizabeth Karnazes

Hi, Probably not, unless he relinquished his parental rights. Good luck!

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Answered on 11/28/09, 6:47 pm


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