I have a question about legally changing my daughters last name. My daughter is currently 2 years old and her last name is hyphenated with her fathers last name and mine. He is not listed on the birth certificate and has had no contact with her since she was a week old. I do not receive child support and don't know exactly where he is. He is an undocumented illegal mexican. I am a us citizen. I am currently living in the state of Washington and want to change her last name to mine. She was born in the state of Texas. I have read the rules on name changing in Washington State and Texas which are both the same. My question is will the fact that not knowing where he is affect the proceeding of the name changing and do I have to get a lawyer?

My mom also had this same problem with me when I was 13 so all she did was search legally changing my last name and of course telling me first or else I would've totally lost her trust if I wasn't okay with it and she had to deal with papers and court because my dad did not want his last name taken from my name and took her to court it was pretty hard though. On my mom and ME- LULA <3

How does it benefit your child to change her last name?

My daughter has my last name and her dads last name. But I want to drop her dads last name. I don't know how to proceed or the cost just to drop her last name.

Generally, you cannot legally change her name without the consent of her father.