Legal Question in Family Law in New York

Son wants to change middle name

My 13 year old son is desperate to officially change his middle name. I fully support him on this. The name he would like is common and poses no threat, fraud, or foreseeable problems. What forms would I need? Where can I locate these forms? Where and whom would I present this to? Am I going to require legal representation when I do this? How would

I go about changing his SS card and his birth certificate? I would greatly appreciate answers to these questions as we would like to start the process.


Asked on 7/17/02, 6:32 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

Bunji Fromartz Fromartz Law Offices

Easy and no attorney needed.

Review the NY State court website for forms: http://www.courts.state.ny.us/namechange.htm then go to your local district court and make sure this set is okay to use. They will have another set for you if it is not.

Once the order is entered you can attend to the Social Security office for name change as well as the local Department of Health or Register for Birth Certificate change.

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Answered on 7/18/02, 4:01 pm
John Hayes The Law Office of John M. Hayes

Re: Son wants to change middle name

Here's the thing:

The required "proceeding" is not a big deal; in theory, a very diligent lay person, who carefully studied the pertinent statutes and was able to search out appropriate 'sample forms' from a publicly accessible law library and ever-so-very carefully follow the directions could do this.

But it would likely become So Very cumbersome & if you get it wrong, they send you home feeling like an idiot ...

Contact the local bar association in the county where you live and ask if they have a Referral Program - - thru that program you can get a consultation with an experienced attorney (you'd be under no obligation to hire this attorney) and during such a consultation you can get the "low down" on what's involved and what it might cost to have it done by an attorney.

Regards, etc.,

J. M. Hayes

>>--> The foregoing amounts to musings and observations based on some years familiarity with the 'day-to-day' operation of the law with regard to the issues involved In The Most General sense; my remarks should not be thought of as "legal advice and counsel" in the formal sense of that phrase, since there is, in fact, no 'attorney / client' relationship existing between us. <-<<

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Answered on 7/17/02, 8:13 pm


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