Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

Re: Name change for a minor

This cannot be done without notice to the bio dad. Try to find him. It's really hard to hide these days with the internet. I bet if you paid 9.95 to Intellius, you might be able to find him. Doesn't he have family, brothers, sisters, counsins, mom, dad? More than likely, he can be found. If not, you would have to publish the notice in a newspaper and hire an attorney for him because you don't know where he is. Usually, it's cheaper to find him. Good Luck.

Re: Name change for a minor

It is possible. First, we would have to try to find bio dad so we could find out whether or not he will agree. If not, you can file the suit, serve him and see if he responds. If he does, you would have to have a contested hearing and let the judge decide whether the names should be changed. If he does not respond, you get what you want. If you cannot locate him, we can ask the court to allow us to serve someeone else (family member or someone who can reach him). If there is no one who can do this, we would have to request substitute service and serve him through a newspaper ad. The judge may want to appoint an attorney to represent bio dad if that is the case.

The best case scenario is to find bio dad and know what his position is before you file since that is going to determine your fees (anything but agreement is going to cause you to incur substantial fees).

Please let me know if you have any other questions.