This is a collaborative post: Changing your child’s name is a very simple process, provided those with parental responsibility all consent to the name change. However, there are many technicalities involved.
We have included everything about Parental Responsibility you need to know in this article. Read on.
What is Parental Responsibility
Parental responsibility is the legal term used for those with legal responsibility for a child under the age of 18. The consent of that person/s would therefore need to be obtained before a name change could take place.
Under the Children Act 1989, parental responsibility is automatically given to a child’s mother regardless of whether or not she is married. A married father also automatically acquires parental responsibility for his child.
Case with Unmarried Fathers
Unmarried fathers are now in a better legal position with regards to parental responsibility. With effect from 1st December 2003, under S.111 of the new adoption and children Act 2002, a father will automatically acquire parental responsibility, if he attends with the child’s mother to register his child’s birth and his name, therefore, appears on the birth certificate.
This will give him the same legal rights as a married father. This applies to residents of the UK and Wales.
If you are a resident of Northern Ireland, a birth registered from 15th April 2002 will automatically give the father parental responsibility if his name appears on the birth certificate.
A father with parental responsibility would be required to give his consent before his child’s name can be changed. The father’s consent will still be required even if he is now divorced or separated from the child’s mother or has remarried again.
Name Change For Children with various Age Brackets
Children under 16
If the child is under the age of 16, as long as all those with parental responsibility give their consent, the child’s name change may then take place.
Children aged between 16-17
When changing the name of a child who is aged between 16 and 17, the consent of the child is also required in addition to those with parental responsibility.
If a child of 16 or 17 wishes to change their name but cannot obtain the consent of those with parental responsibility, they would have to wait until they are 18 when they would be classed as an adult and could execute their own Deed Poll.
Absent fathers/Refused consent
Many people wish to change their children’s names without the consent of the father as they are unable to contact him or his whereabouts is now unknown. Any name change without the father’s consent does, of course, carry some risks but is still possible.
The child’s mother would have to write a consent letter detailing what steps she has taken to contact the absent father. This would need to include evidence of contact with his last known address/family relatives etc. Once the consent letter is effective, the name change could then take place.
However, the mother must be aware that the father could contest this name change through the courts in the future. However, the courts would only reverse the name change if it were shown to be in the child’s best interest.
Therefore a prolonged absence of a father would not be looked on favourably by the courts. The reversal would probably not be deemed suitable for the child.
Refusal To Provide Consent
If a parent refuses to give their consent, even though they have little or nothing to do with the child, obtaining a court order would be the only guaranteed way to make sure that you could change your child’s name without the consent.
You can apply to your local County Court for an Order for the name change to take place. The C1 form would need to be obtained and duly completed.
Conclusion
You can change your name using a deed poll in the UK. However, changing your child’s name comes with certain technicalities that we’ve discussed in this article.
Remember, failure to obtain the rightful consent for a child’s name change will result in Alpha Deed accepting no responsibility whatsoever for any legal action that may be as a direct result of this.