Name Changing - Hutchinson,KS

Oh boy, sorry you're getting bad info. You don't have to terminate his rights.

When you file the petition for the name change, you will have to have him notified, usually by certified mail to his last known address. If the mail is returned undeliverable, that's the first step in proving that he is unfindable. If you have a child support order that isn't being adhered to and your state's child support enforcement division is unable to locate him, that helps as well. At some point, you'll jump through enough hoops to be able to publish a public notice in a newspaper that serves the community where he was last known to live. If he doesn't respond to any of that, your case will proceed and you will get your name change. If you are able to get a valid address and have him served, chances are that he'll ignore the notice if he's a bad person who has outstanding court business, doesn't pay child support, etc. and his absence of a response will be considered consent.

You need to start at the clerk of court's office. Go to the main entrance, where you will probably have to go through a metal detector and have your bag scanned, and ask the security staff where the clerk's office is for family and probate cases.

Good luck!

ETA - JB is right - you are getting BAD information. You do NOT need to terminate parental rights. Please read the link provided and hire a lawyer.

Lana's Momma,

A quick google search found the answer for you.
http://www.kdheks.gov/vital/amend_birth_minors.html

Customer question: How do I change my child’s last name?

Answer: It will depend on what last name you want to change your child’s last name to. The following are five different answers from which you can select the one which best describes your situation.

1. If you want to change the child’s last name to the natural father’s name, and the child is under the age of 18 years old, the mother and father need to appear before a judge of district court in any Kansas county and complete a Paternity Consent Form for Birth Registration called a VS211. PDF Format :: Word Format

You do not need an attorney to appear before the judge and there is no court cost.

Contact the clerk of district court to set up an appointment to use this form. You will need to take a certified copy of the child’s birth certificate with you and some form of identification for both “parents.”

Once the form has been completed at the courthouse, the clerk will mail the form to our office.
This procedure also applies to hyphenating the child’s last name with mother’s maiden surname and father’s last name.
If you want to change the child’s last name to mother’s maiden surname and there is a father’s name listed on the birth certificate, you need to follow the same procedure.
If you want to change the child’s last name to mother’s maiden surname, and there is no father listed on the birth certificate, and the mother was not married to anyone during her pregnancy, the mother can appear before a judge of district court in any Kansas county and complete a Paternity Consent Form for Birth Registration called a VS211. PDF Format :: Word Format
If you want to change the child’s last name to a name other then the mother’s maiden surname or the natural father’s name, then you will need to obtain a legal name change through the courts, following the statute K.S.A. 60-1402. You may need an attorney for this procedure.
Once the legal name change has been granted, you will need to submit a certified copy of the court order to our office with a cover letter stating what you want us to do.

Note: if the court order does not specifically change the child’s name, then we will not change the child’s last name to father’s. You will need to follow the procedure above regarding changing the child’s name to the natural father’s name.

Customer question: My child’s name does not appear on his/her birth certificate. How do I get his or her name listed?

Answer: The parent or parents need to appear before a judge of the district court in any Kansas county and complete a Paternity Consent Form for Birth Registration called a VS211. PDF Format :: Word Format You do not need an attorney to appear before the judge and there is no court cost.

Contact the clerk of district court to set up an appointment to use this form. You will need to take a certified copy of the child’s birth certificate with you and some form of identification for both “parents.”

Once the form has been completed at the courthouse, the clerk will mail it to our office.

Customer question: The mother or father’s name is misspelled on my child’s birth certificate. What do we need to do to fix it?

Answer: The parent or parents need to appear before a judge of the district court in any Kansas county and complete a Paternity Consent Form for Birth Registration called a VS211. PDF Format :: Word Format. This form can also be used to correct the spellings of a parent or parents’ names.

You do not need an attorney to appear before the judge and there is no court cost.

Contact the clerk of district court to set up an appointment to use this form. You will need to take a certified copy of the child’s birth certificate with you and some form of identification for both “parents.”

Once the form has been completed at the courthouse, the clerk will mail it to our office.

Customer question: How can I correct an error with my child's date of birth, time of birth, or sex?

Answer: The answer is the same whether we are amending the child’s date of birth or time of birth.

You need to provide us with the hospital verification as to the correct date of birth or time of birth or sex. This can be done by contacting the hospital. Once you have the verification, send it our office with a notarized statement requesting the amendment to be done. If there are two parents listed on the birth certificate, then both parents need to sign the notarized statement. Click here for a sample of a notarized statement.

Customer question: The mother's or father’s date of birth or place of birth is incorrect. What do we need to do to fix it?

Answer: The answer is the same whether we are amending a parent’s date of birth or place of birth.

Please provide us with a certified copy of the parent’s birth certificate to verify the correct information. We also need a notarized statement requesting that the amendment be done. If there are two parents listed on the birth certificate, then both parents need to sign the notarized statement. Click here for a sample of a notarized statement.

Customer question: Where do I mail my request or documentation?

Answer: Mail everything to:

AMENDMENT UNIT
OFFICE OF VITAL STATISTICS
1000 SW JACKSON, STE 120
TOPEKA, KS 66612-2221

I personally would hire a lawyer to make sure it's done right and there are no negative repercussions.

Good luck!

I suggest you need accurate information for the county in which you live. Google the name 9f your county and name change. If they don't have all the information you want there will be a phone number and address.

You can also call your county's general information number and ask who to call to get information about a name change. You do not have to go to the courthouse. But if you do, there will be an information "booth" to ask where to go.

I'm the personal representitive for my cousin's estate. I put off filing a small estate probate. So I understand your hesitancy to get started. I suggest that once you take the first step other steps will fall in place.

If you're concerned that you can't change her name because you don't know where her father lives, there is a process to deal with that situation. Just start by looking this up on the Internet or call the courthouse. Start with the first question. How do I change my daughter's name. You will likely have to call different numbers until you find the right office. Don't be discouraged.

My advice might be outdated (or it might not), but my aunt changed her son's last name (this was 20 years ago, though). The last name wasn't even his father's last name when my cousin was born - they lived in some hippie commune and she named him after the hippie commune (I wish I were making this up!). Anyway. The process for her involved going to the court and filling out paperwork. The father was not involved in her son's life (no legal or physical custody, nor had he ever paid child support), but even so they had to attempt to notify him. She didn't even know where he lived, so they put a notice in the newspaper in the county where the court was located, and then had to wait 30 or 60 days or something - I forget how long exactly. Anyway, when the father did not show up and object, the name change was finalized. (She changed her son's last name to her own last name, because he complained of being made fun of at school for his hippie-dippie last name.) I think the court does take into consideration if the child is distressed (or has the potential to be) about their name.

This was in California, though, so things may be different where you live. You might check somewhere like Legal Zoom. They can provide more detailed advice and can help you file paperwork.

I highly recommend contacting a family law attorney. They can help walk you through the process. I don't know your state's law, so I don't know your specific state requirements for changing a child's name. If you are interested in terminating the biological father's parental rights, you could potentially wrap a name change into that legal process. However, a family law attorney can advise you as to how a name change, terminating parental rights, or both can impact your rights to child support and any future court actions regarding custody or child support. If budget is an issue, contact your local Community Legal Services, large law school family law clinic, or call the court for pro bono/sliding scale legal services.

courthouses can be bewildering, but if this something that's important to you, and you don't want to hire an attorney (by far the easiest way to go), then you just have to take a deep breath and wade in. i worked in a ton of courthouses for years (abstractor) and most of them have a bunch of bored unhelpful clerks who will fob you off, and a few really awesome kind helpful ones. plaster on a smile, make sure you've had a good breakfast and plenty of coffee, arm yourself with all the patience and courtesy you can muster, and keep relentlessly working your way through until you find the right one.
you'll almost certainly have to jump through an annoying series of hoops to do this. registered letters, or process servers, or newspaper announcements. something to let the father know so he has the opportunity to contest it if he wants to. you'll need to be patient through that too.
every county and state is a little different, so you really do have to negotiate your own on its own terms.
it's perfectly do-able if indeed this is a big deal to you. it will just take time. don't try to do it in the hour inbetween work and a dentist appointment. schedule a whole day. then more as needed.
and when you find that nice helpful clerk, bring her doughnuts.
or make your life way easier and hire an attorney.
khairete
S.

You'll have to advertise this in the local papers in any town you think he might be. If you know any of his family you'll have to post it in towns they live in. They have to run for a couple of weeks. You don't have the legal right to remove his name from her birth certificate until he gives permission.

An attorney will make sure you do every step. If you take the ads down even one day early you have to run them again the full time, if you get even a small response from someone who says "I heard he was living in Timbucktoo" you have to run ads in that local paper for a couple of weeks.

If he has family in town they might show up at court to and ask the judge to not cut that tie. The judge could honor that request.

It's hard to do it without the dad's absolute proven it's him permission. It's tedious and time consuming and a lot of expense. Once you start seeing the dollar signs add up you might just decide to let it go. There's no reason you can't add another name to her list of names but her legal name would always be the same.

If you need both parents consent then you may need to terminate his rights first, and to that you will have to show a good will effort to contact him. You should be able to call to see if you need his signature or not, or find the information on your cities website. If you do, then look into what is required to terminate his rights, often if you can prove abandonment it is not too difficult.

I believe he needs to terminate his parental rights.
Call the courthouse. Ask for Family Court.
Hutchinson KS can't be THAT big! Lol

I'm not going to give you grief about the name change, but overall I would say that unless the guy was a serial killer, you are going to have a tough time without his consent. I understand he was/is a bad guy, but unless his name is like super unusual, why would anyone associate it with your daughter? Especially if you live in such a big town?

In any event, I did a two second bing search on the name change procedure and found all the info directly from the courthouse so although you may not have time to drive over there directly, the info is easily found on line. Like I suspected, they do not discuss alternatives if the father is absent (only if he agrees to the name change) so I would guess that you will need an attorney to proceed and perhaps a private detective to find him if you truly do not know where he is so he can be served with the paperwork.

Please search your heart to see if she really "needs" a name change, or do you just "want" her to have one. I'm not trying to judge, but it will be the first thought that pops into people's heads - including the judge's - so make sure you have thought it all the way through.

Good luck no matter what you decide.