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How do name changes effect family members? ?
The situation is: a child was given a different last name. Not mom's or dad's. It was an old family name maybe they were trying to preserve. Now, in mid 40s yrs old, wants to change last name to biological father's name. After all this time, of coarse, there are many documents, licenses & children with the birth name. Beside the document hassle, how would a spouse & the children be affected? Do they get some kind of rider to prove name change, next of kin?
7 Answers
- dripLv 74 weeks ago
In the US. A person can change their name by going to court. A lawyer could advise and make the process go faster and smoother. It is not an expensive process.
No there is no rider. No next of kin needs to be consulted.
My dad changed his first name to make it sound more American. His family had called him by the new name for years before he had it legally changed.
Go to your public library and ask a research librarian to help you find info on how to legally change your name.
- ObserverLv 71 month ago
After 40 years why bother. In the US you could petition the court and if they concur you can legally change your name. It has no effect on anyone else in your family and their name would remain what it is on their birth certificate. You do have to contact all those businesses and licensing agencies and most require a certified copy of the court decree. It can get really expensive.
Source(s): My Niece legally changed her name and it was a mess. - EisbärLv 71 month ago
You can change your name to whatever you want (although I have heard some places proposed names being rejected, but not sure that is the case in the US). But you don't have to prove anything to go by a particular name, like by kinship or anything like that. Celebrities change their name all the time, which is commonly referred to as their "stage name" but most of them get it legally changed also. You just have to pay the fees and do all the paperwork to have it legally changed, which then also leaves a paper trail, so should be able to trace it back to their kinship somehow if all the paperwork was done and filed properly.
- MaxiLv 71 month ago
Nothing to do with genealogy research......... how it affects your family you will have to ask them, done legally you change the name you are known by but it doesn't change who you are or the abiity to find you via research and all offical records also ask for 'any other name you have legally been known by'
- CogitoLv 71 month ago
I don't know how it works in the USA, but I changed back to my maiden name after my divorce. I found a template online for a legal deed poll, completed it, made a number of copies (about 10, I think), then I signed and dated them all in the presence of two witnesses who also signed and dated them.
I then sent one to every official entity who needed to be informed such as government departments, drivers' licence, insurances, taxes, doctors, pensions, landlord, utilities, etc, with a letter of explanation and a stamped return envelope, and asked for them to return the document to me asap.
As long as I never, ever used my married name again and made the change with no illegal purposes or fraud in mind, this was all perfectly valid.
As far as other people are concerned, they'd have to do the same thing if they too wanted to change the surname. My daughter didn't want to change her name, so we now have different surnames. Names don't prove anything (such as next of kin).
