Legal Question in Family Law in New York

Have legal and physcial custody, can I change child's surname from father to min

I have a 3 yr old child. I have legal and physical custody of her. Her father was incarcerated when she was 15 mos old and was detained for 15 mos and then deported and has been out of the country for a full year. She has no relationship with him or even knows who he is. He does not financially support her and has only contacted her once in the past year. He has threatened to raise her Egyptian-Muslim and not American. How difficult would it be for me to change her surname to my maiden name, how long would it take and what do I do if I have no address or phone number for him, just an email address and can he contest it being that he is in a foreign country? Can one of the reasons I use be that her last name has a negative association and social stigma attached to it since it is arab muslim and her father was detained due to 9/11 and for protective reasons? Please help.


Asked on 1/07/04, 8:11 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stephen Loeb Law Office of Stephen R. Loeb

Re: Have legal and physcial custody, can I change child's surname from father to

Chqanging a child's name when there young is generally a fairly simple process when it is not done for a fraudulent or misleading reason. The Court may not be as quick to grant your child's name change as usual because they will want to look into all the circumstances. IF the father hasn't been involved in raising the child, has shown known interest in raising the child and can't be present in the country those are all factors that may be considered. That a name has negative associations is a traditional reason people have changed names for centuries so that would be a valid reason, however there is another unmentioned reason which is distancing the child from the father. That is a reason the Court may have problems with. Still if you start a name change action and what you write is accurate, you probably will ultimately be able to change the child's name, it just may take you longer than usual. You may want to contact an attorney to assist you in this matter.

Should you like to discuss this or any other legal matter, you can call my office to schedule an appointment for a consultation or in the alternative, I can be reached for on-phone low-cost legal consultation at 1-800-275-5336 x0233699.

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Answered on 1/08/04, 9:27 am


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