I have a 10 year old daughter that carries my maiden name. Paternity testing was done when she was an infant and the father named on the birth certificate was found not to be her biological father. After the results, that person decided to leave our lives. I married when my daughter was 2 and have several other children. The other children carry the my husband's last name, and recently my daughter requested to have her name changed. I started the process in one state, but had to relocate with my job to another state. I went the local courthouse to find out the process, and it seems to be just a nightmare here. The issue really is they want to know if the person named on the birth certificate is not the biological father then who is? I have some idea, but don't know where to find him. The truth is that I don't want to find him. How can I have my daughter's name changed? What can I do without having to have to go through finding the other person and getting paternity testing done all over again? I don't want to put my daughter through that kind of process, nor myself. I don't want to change the world, just my daughter's name. PLEASE HELP!

You must get the fathers permission and you must make an attempt that meet or exceeds the courts standard to find the father of the child if they are unknown at this time. You should also find this person for child support etc. Is it really fair to your child or the system not to make a good faith attempt ?