In order to change the child’s surname, either the written consent from all individuals with parental responsibility (PR) for the child needs to be obtained, or the court’s permission is required.
If PR is held only by the mother and is not shared with the father, the mother can change the child’s surname without seeking the child’s father’s consent. PR will not be shared with the father where the father was unmarried to the mother at the time of the child’s birth and has not sought PR by way of being registered as the father on the child’s birth certificate, has no PR agreement with the mother nor a PR order from the Court.
If the father with PR does not consent to change the child’s surname, you will need to apply to Court for a Specific Issue Order for permission to change your child’s surname.
How to apply?
The process to apply for a Specific Issue Order is by completing form C100 and sending that to the nearest family court. The court fee is currently £232.
If the father is absent from a child’s life, it may still be possible to change a child’s name without the father being involved in the Court proceedings provided you are able to demonstrate you do not know the whereabouts of the father and prove the reasonable measures taken to contact the absent father, i.e., evidence of contacting the father through his last known mobile number and address, reaching out to the father’s friends and family etc. Further evidence such as no child maintenance payments received would also be helpful to show.
Court’s approach
The mother would need to demonstrate that it would be in the child’s best interest for a specific issue order to change the child’s surname to be granted.
When making a decision, the court would determine whether or not to grant the specific issue order by giving importance to the child’s welfare and considering the welfare checklist under section 1 of the CA 1989 in doing so.
There is a greater chance of successfully obtaining a court order to double-barrel a child’s surname than removing the absent parent’s surname from the child’s surname. This is because a child’s surname is considered an integral part of their identity.
If you have any questions, please contact our Family Team on 0345 646 0406 or complete an online enquiry form, and a member of the team will be in touch.