My son's last name is hyphenated, and I want to remove his father last name!
I have a question about legally changing my child's last name. I live in Chester County, PA. My son was born in 3/03. My son's father and I were never married, but I decided to give my child a hyphenated last name. When I had my son they did not put his fathers name on his birth certificate, but he does pay child support.The father of my son is not in his life although he lives less than a mile away.He only sees his son twice a year if that.I have always wanted to change his last name, but now that he will be starting school in the fall, I really want to have his fathers last name removed and just keep my last name. When I contacted the court house, they advised me to contact a lawyer. They also told me that I have to go to the law library and pay $132.00 for all of the forms. Since I am only taking a part of his name off, I don't know if I have to go though all of that. Please help me and let me know if there is an easier way to precede with this, and do I need the fathers consent to change the name, even though he is not on the birth certificate or in his life. I also wanted to know if this is something that I have to go to court and go before a judge. Please Help!! -Thank you
