Name Change?

I have a 3 year old step daughter. She knows me as her dad since I got with her mom when she was still pregnant. Her real father has never even came around and now me and her mom have 2 other kids and are married. So I can say we'll be most likely be together for awhile. I don't want my daughter (step daughter) to feel funny about having a different last name than the other two children. I didn't want to adopt her per say but rather just change her last name. I've spoken with a lawyer and checked also on the internet. The lawyer and most places I've went to on the net say you have to adopt to do the name change and also want to charge over $1,000.00 to do it. I was told by someone I used to work with and no longer can get in touch with that it shouldn't cost no more than $150. Does anyone know of any cheep but legal ways of doing this? By the way if it makes a difference, I live in Georgia.

sunny

Leave her alone. Why not just be a decent father to her? There is no need to slap your name on her.

Doesn't sound like your marraige isn't that stable anyway ("we'll be together for a while") A while?

How would you like your name changed? Yeah, I didn't think so.

LaurieDB

It is absolutely not necessary to adopt the child in order to change her name. Since the child already has a parent, she doesn't need to be adopted anyway.

Of course, you really don't know how she will feel about having a different last name. It is HER name, after all. I personally didn't like having my name changed without my consent when I was a child. Give it some more thought before you decide to do this.

As an adult, I chose to have my name changed back. I did it for under $300.00 (California) and it doesn't require an attorney. It is a simple procedure.

Again, a person does not have to be adopted in order to obtain a name change.

ETA:

Here is the URL to a Webpage that deals specifically with name changes in Georgia, including name changes for minor children.

http://www.namechangelaw.com/states/ga/georgia.htm

opedial

Unless you are actually adopting her, I don't see why she should have your name. Her mom's birth name sure, but unless you are her dad, I don't think her name shoudl be changed. If dad is not around, then think about adopting...

Lots of families have people with different names, heck lots of married people have different names and the kids get one of each or something like that. These times are different, so maybe at the very least wait until she is older and ask her if she wants her name changed.

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Why do you want her to have your last name if you don't want to be her legal father? Step up and adopt her!

parental unit

Contact social security, they can help you.

rick

Contact your local Dept. of Social Services, that's what I did in the exact same situation and they took care of everything.
I had to attend 2- 2 hr. parenting sessions and you'll also have to be fingerprinted and a criminal backround check done. They even do that. I also had 2 other children but still had to do the parenting classes with my wife. Now this was in N.C.......hopefully it'll work the same for you. Cost....$0..zero.

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