hyphen double barrel surname

[bell39]

my daughter has a double barrelled surname but no longer has any contact with her father( his choice) ,, she is due to start school soon can i remove his surname as it is hyphened and my surname is last, i would appreciate any advice on this

Does he have parental responsibility? In which case you'd need his consent to legally change her surname. But you could always just use your bit of the surname informally: I've got a double-barrelled surname which I rarely use, and I have never legally changed it. Having both bits of the name is important to me but I haven't used half of it in daily life since school, because it was too long to fit on forms/coat pegs etc.

I would be tempted to keep her full name even if you don't use it, and let her make the choice to change it legally when she's a bit older.

I have the opposite and my children have my exH's name 'officially' but use a double barrelled surname which includes mine as their 'known as' name for every day use. He wouldn't let me change their name by deed poll and I wasn't up for dragging it through court. Their official name is on their passports and back accounts but everything else uses the known as name. When they are 18, if they want to formalise the change they can do so quickly and cheaply by deed poll then.

Yes, if her father has parental responsibility you need his consent to change it.

But schools are well used to Lottie Smith - Hughes known as Lottie Hughes etc. The full name just goes on reports etc.

Agree with others that she can use her preferred name other than on official documents, there's no problem with that.

Likewise if her first name was, say, Sarah, but she preferred Amanda, she could get everyone to call her Amanda and there would not be any issue there (well other than potential confusion obvs, but it's not major). She would just need to use 'Sarah' on official docs and not use the preferred name with intent to deceive anyone as to her true identity. Goes for surnames too.

thanks everyone .. i dont want to change it officially as i know he would not agree to it , i want to drop it in school as in taking register in class as it would be another reminder for her and she misses him terribly

I have lots of teachers in my family - don't worry, yours is a common request.

It will be easy as well since it is double barrell. Some kids are Smith known as Jones and then come report time my poor relative is checking which of the three Jacks in her class is Jack Smith!

Most of the people I know with 'old' double-barrelled surnames often just use one bit (normally the last bit).