Changing a child's surname
Questions and Answers
What if the father is an absent father?
What happens if the father has parental responsibility for the child but has no contact and is an absent parent?
It may be possible for a parent to change the child's surname by deed poll without the other parent's consent if the other parent's whereabouts are not known. The parent must have taken reasonable steps to contact the other parent before making an application for a name change, as the deed poll service will want to see evidence that the parent has reasonably tried to make contact.
There may be some restrictions with using the surname if the deed poll service has allowed a change of name without the consent of the absent parent, such as problems at the passport office. If one parent is absent from the child’s live, the other parent has a stronger case of being able to change their surname through the court system anyway so this would be the better approach to take.
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