Unlike changing a surname, changing a child’s middle name is much more difficult. This is complicated by the fact that replacement is only possible if the child is adopted by a new father, provided that the natural father has been legally deprived of parental rights.
There are cases when a baby’s birth certificate contains a dash in the “Father” column or the data was filled out from the words of a single mother. As a rule, in the future the mother gets married, and the child has a second adoptive father. In this case, the child will receive the middle name of his adoptive parent without any problems.
Is it possible to change a child’s last and patronymic names without the father’s consent?
Parents, as legal representatives, are responsible for all areas of the life of a child who is to some extent deprived of civil capacity. Their rights also extend to such legally significant actions as changing the surname, first name and patronymic of a minor.
The opinions of both parents are important, whether they are married or not. The situation is influenced by the legal status of the father: if in the birth certificate he is indicated as a parent or adoptive parent, his position regarding the change of surname is necessarily taken into account.
But this does not mean that changing the name without his permission is impossible. The law provides exceptions for this:
- The child bears the surname of a person who was not married to his mother and is not recorded as his father.
- The parent is absent, incapacitated, avoids caring for the child, or has been deprived of parental rights.
- The child has reached the age of majority or has been recognized as fully capable (emancipated).
- Paternity was disputed.
Some of the listed reasons should be discussed separately.
Incapacity
A complete lack of civil capacity in an adult is observed in the presence of a serious mental disorder that prevents a person from thinking objectively and independently taking responsibility for his actions.
This circumstance must be based on a medical report and confirmed in court.
Failure to fulfill parental responsibilities
Failure to provide financial assistance without good reason is tantamount to malicious evasion of parental responsibilities, and therefore, in accordance with paragraph 2 of Art. 59 of the RF IC, the opinion of such a parent may not be taken into account when changing the surname.
The same can be said about the lack of upbringing on the part of the father - if he does not communicate and does not pay enough attention to the child, his parental powers may be limited.
An unknown absence
The absence of a parent and information about him from his place of permanent residence for more than one year frees the mother from having to wait for his permission to change the child’s surname. The fact of unknown absence must be established in court.
Deprivation of parental rights
A father deprived of parental rights cannot influence the life of the child, and therefore his position when changing the surname of a minor is not taken into account at all.
The grounds for deprivation of parental rights, according to Art. 69 RF IC are:
- Avoidance of parental responsibilities.
- Leaving a minor in a maternity hospital or other social organization unnecessarily (exceeding the mandatory period of stay).
- Abuse of parental rights.
- Violence towards a minor.
- Father's drug addiction and alcoholism.
- Commitment by a parent of a crime related to an attempt on the life and health of their children, their mother, stepmother or other family member.
Deprivation of parental rights is carried out in court, taking into account the position of the guardianship and trusteeship authority.
Challenging paternity
The fact of parenthood can be challenged both by the father himself and by another person interested in this, for example, the mother.
To achieve this, she must prove to the court that the person indicated in the minor’s birth certificate is not his father.
The most effective way to achieve this is to order a genealogical examination (DNA test) and submit its results to the court.
Emancipation
Upon reaching 16 years of age, a minor, by decision of a court or guardianship authority, may be recognized as fully capable (emancipated) if:
- Entered into an official marriage.
- Works on the basis of an agreement or contract.
- Engaged in business activities.
An emancipated teenager, being a capable citizen, gains complete freedom to perform legally significant actions, including changing his last name.
A small characteristic
How to change a child's middle name? And is it necessary to do this? Many women who have married other partners and have ended all relationships with their ex-husbands are concerned about such issues.
In this case, it should be said that changing a child’s middle name cannot always radically change his life as a whole. Therefore, this issue must be approached very carefully. Even if the natural father is deprived of his rights to the baby, it is not a fact that the man who adopted the child will love him as his own.
Moreover, according to the law, the replacement of the patronymic is allowed by the child himself when the latter turns fourteen years old or after adoption by another person.
If the father of a minor has changed his name, then the child’s patronymic must be changed at the registry office on the basis of an existing document (certificate of name change). It is very important.
How to change a child's last and patronymic names? Parents can do this themselves. If this concerns the interests of a child under 14 years of age (for example, the legal representatives themselves have changed their first and last names), then in this case it will simply be necessary to change the child’s data. Otherwise, parents will have to prove their relationship with the minor. To do this, you will need to visit the registry office.
At what age can you change
A child’s name can be changed at any age, taking into account the following features:
- Before he turns 14 years old , with the permission of the father and mother or only the mother (when possible), as well as the guardianship and trusteeship authorities. However, from the age of 10, this cannot be done without the consent of the minor.
- After reaching 14 years of age - on his initiative, but with the consent of one/two parents, immediately in the registry office or through the court.
- Upon reaching 18 years of age (16 in case of emancipation) - independently, at the civil registry office.
From the age of 14, a child has the right to initiate a change of surname himself. Before this, only his legal representative: a parent or adoptive parent.
The following actions
After all the documents have been collected, you will need to visit the registry office at your place of residence or the authority where the birth certificate was issued. There, employees will check all the documents and if everything is fine, then the procedure for changing part of the child’s name will not take more than one month. You definitely need to know about this.
Is it possible to change a child’s middle name if the woman is a single mother? What do I need to do? Unfortunately, this question is asked by many representatives of the fair half of humanity. Here it is immediately necessary to say that in order to resolve this issue, permission from guardianship may be required. Because the law indicates this.
However, guardianship can accommodate a woman halfway if it concerns the interests of a minor. Although, it is better to wait until the child reaches 14 years of age, receives a passport, and, with the consent of his mother, can change his personal data. You need to think about this in advance.
Is it possible to change a child’s middle name if a woman gets married and wants her chosen one to become the baby’s father? Of course, this is possible if a man adopts his wife’s daughter or son. In this case, the child will be assigned a middle name automatically. In practice this happens quite often.
Is it possible for a child to change his last and patronymic names? As stated earlier, it is best not to do this before the age of 14.
In addition, the middle name can be changed after adoption. If the baby already has a father who is recorded in the documents, then this procedure should be waited until the child grows up. Because after coming of age, a young citizen will be able to independently change his patronymic, first and last name without the consent of guardianship and parents. You also need to know about this.
How to change a child's middle name and last name
The process of changing the name of a minor includes visiting the following authorities:
- Court. Necessary to establish circumstances that make it possible to do without the father’s consent.
- Guardianship and trusteeship authorities. Here you need to obtain a resolution to change the surname of a child under 14 years of age.
- Civil registration authorities. They register the change of name and make changes to the birth certificate of the minor.
Instructions
Algorithm of actions when changing the name of a minor under 14 years of age (on the part of the mother or guardian):
- Applying to the court to declare the father incompetent, missing, or maliciously evading parental responsibilities (if these circumstances exist) or to obtain a copy of a judicial act issued on this issue earlier.
- A visit to the guardianship and trusteeship authorities to obtain permission to change the surname.
- Visiting the civil registry office at the place of residence or birth of the child.
- Submitting an application for a name change and the necessary documents.
- Payment of state duty.
- Receiving a certificate of name change (usually a month after submitting the application).
If the child is already 14 years old, the participation of the guardianship and trusteeship authorities in the process is not required. The lack of consent of the father can be compensated by a court decision that the change of name does not contradict the legitimate interests of the child, and the father, due to certain circumstances, has no right to resist.
A fully competent teenager does not need to visit the court and the guardianship and trusteeship authorities. To change his last name, he just needs to contact the civil registry office.
Statement
The minor's representative will need to draw up and submit an application to the civil registry office. In accordance with Art. 59 of Federal Law No. 143-FZ, it must indicate:
- Information about the applicant - full name, place and date of birth, citizenship, place of residence, marital status (nationality is indicated upon request).
- Full name and date of birth of all minor children.
- Series, number, date of issue of all certificates issued by the civil registry office to the applicant and his children (about birth, marriage, adoption, etc.).
- The last name/first name/patronymic name that the child should take at the request of the applicant must be the mother’s last name; the middle name and first name can be changed freely.
- Reasons for changing the name.
- Date of preparation.
The application is certified by the personal signature of the applicant.
Download a sample application
List of required documents
The registration authority will also require the applicant to:
- Identification.
- Birth certificates of all minor children of the applicant.
- A document confirming the authority of the guardian (if he represents the interests of the child).
- A decision of the court or the guardianship and trusteeship authority on the admissibility of changing the surname.
- Receipt for payment of state duty.
Copies of these documents are submitted to the civil registry office with the obligatory presentation of the originals.
Legal basis
Is it possible to change a child's middle name? In this case, it is necessary to answer this question more precisely. To do this, you need to clearly study the norms of the current civil legislation.
So, according to legal norms, it is impossible for a child to change his middle name until he is fourteen years old. However, you can change your first and last name.
But there is one exception here. If a child is adopted by another man, then he assigns his patronymic to the child. It's completely legal.
In addition, if a minor is already fourteen years old, then he has the opportunity to change his patronymic. But for this he needs to get his parents' permission.
So, after studying the legal side of the issue, you can proceed to active action. If a parent still wants to change the middle name of his child, then he must prepare some documents (originals and photocopies).
What still needs to be provided? To complete this procedure you will need:
- baby's birth document;
- parental permission to change the middle name, which must be notarized (otherwise the registry office simply will not accept it);
- passports of legal representatives;
- an application written in the prescribed form (issued at the registry office).
Depending on the reason for changing the patronymic, a certificate of marriage or divorce should be attached to the package of documents. Do not forget that the service is paid, and you will need to attach a receipt for payment of the state duty to the rest of the papers.
What is the price
The state service for registering a name change is subject to a fee. Its size, in accordance with Art. 333.26 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation is:
- 1600 rub. for changing the surname, patronymic and issuing a certificate;
- 650 rub. for making changes to the birth certificate of a child.
Additional costs may arise if you go to court. Acceptance of an application to establish a legally significant circumstance (incapacity, unknown absence of a father, emancipation of a child) will cost the applicant 300 rubles .
Interesting
After the child turns ten years old, he has the opportunity to express his opinion about changing the name. Accordingly, if the child is against changing his middle name, then it will be impossible to change the latter’s personal data. This is the law.
How to change a child's middle name on a birth certificate? To resolve this issue, you need to contact the registry office. As mentioned earlier, there are legal subtleties and nuances here.
For example, until a child reaches 14 years old, no one will change his middle name. All mothers who are planning to take any action to change the middle name of their baby should know about this.
If the child’s middle name is nevertheless changed, then new data must be entered into the birth document. This is carried out by the employees of the registry office themselves, in which this legal procedure took place.
Legal practice
N. Savelyeva turned to a lawyer for help. She was concerned about the issue of changing her child’s patronymic and surname from his father’s surname to her own. She explained her position by the lack of upbringing and support from her ex-husband - for almost 6 years he did not show his parental care in any way: he was not interested in the child’s life, did not communicate with him and evaded paying child support.
Having analyzed the client’s situation, the legal specialist suggested going beyond a simple change of surname, namely, depriving the unscrupulous father of parental rights (according to the RF IC, there was every reason for this).
Their further actions were as follows:
- Collecting evidence of the father’s indifference in upbringing and financial support.
- Drawing up and submitting an application to the court.
- Deprivation of the client's ex-husband of parental rights.
- Obtaining a copy of the judicial act and submitting it to the guardianship and trusteeship authorities.
- Changing the name of a minor and registering changes with the civil registry office.
Ignoring the father’s position when performing such a significant procedure as changing the child’s last and patronymic names is rarely allowed. And even in the case of an objective need to erase the data of one parent from the name, it is extremely difficult - such radical measures must be based on serious misconduct on the part of the father or the impossibility of obtaining consent from him.
Any of these circumstances must be proven and your position correctly presented to the guardianship and trusteeship authorities (court). And the lawyers on our site will help you with such a difficult task. You can contact them for a free consultation remotely in a form convenient for you: by phone or through the feedback window.
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Basic moments
Of course, parents are not chosen, and the middle name assigned to the child at birth by the father (if mom and dad were married or lived together) is considered an integral part of the baby’s name. However, it very often happens that after the end of a relationship, a man leaves, and a woman marries again and wants her child to have a new dad, who would give the latter his patronymic and surname. But is this possible? Practice shows that it happens in different ways.
The procedure for changing a patronymic is very complex and has many different legal nuances. However, if you wish, you can still achieve a change even in the full name of your child. The main thing is to approach this issue correctly.
What could be the reasons for changing a child’s middle name? This is a very interesting question. In fact, these reasons may be different. For example, someone simply doesn’t like their middle name. Or a citizen wants to bear the patronymic name of the person who raised him instead of his own father. There are also cases when women themselves want to change part of the child’s name in order to forget their past.
The patronymic name is replaced after the baby is adopted by another person. This is important to know.
How long does the process of changing a middle name take?
Review of the application takes 3 months from the date of application. If there is a good reason, the processing time for information may increase by up to 3 months. During this period, the applicant is checked by the internal affairs authorities, who give an opinion on the possibility of making changes. Based on the results of the check, the applicant is sent a conclusion on whether permission to change the child’s patronymic is granted or denied.
If a positive decision is made, the applicant is obliged to contact the civil registry office within 3 months from the date of receipt to change the information. If the established deadlines are violated without a valid reason, the issued permit will no longer be valid, after which the applicant will have to start the process again.
Is it possible to change the middle name for a child under 14 years old?
In legal practice, there are examples when a child changes his last name after his mother’s marriage, but the middle name remains the same. It is allowed to change it if the minor has an adoptive father. Along with the change of surname, the patronymic also automatically changes; it is given by the name of the adoptive parent. Changes are permitted in specific cases:
- the “father” column in the child’s birth certificate does not contain information about the second parent (there is a dash instead of the name);
- the father is legally deprived of parental rights;
- the child's birth certificate was filled out according to the mother's words.
