court order/ name change/ passport - please help?

[soph252]

Hi there,

I was hoping someone could help or offer some advice please?

I have a son who was born 2005. The father put his name on the birth certificate, however I have since found out he put a false address and date of birth. I had made the mistake of falling pregnant within weeks of a relationship and his whole life was lies, so I had been led to believe he was older than he was etc. This is probably by the by though as I'm sure it doesn't affect his parental rights, but can't find an answer to this anywhere, even the solicitor I spoke to earlier wasn't sure???

Anyway fast forward a few years and he has had nothing to do with his son. I wanted to change my sons sir name so it was the same as me and all of my family - the only family my son knows. I contacted a solicitor who said I must do a letter to the last known address of the father and be seen to make the best effort I could to contact the father and ask for his permission. This I did, but the letter was returned (no such address!) The solicitor then said we could go ahead with the name change. He drew up a document - change of name deed. Which I signed and he stamped and verified. I have since let docs, banks etc know of this (given them all a copy of the doc) and they have all changed their records.

However recently I sent off to get a new passport for my son with the same document. We are going on our hols in 5 weeks. All booked and paid for. Today I recieved a letter from the passport office saying they needed a letter from me stating that I have never been married to the father and that he has no parental rights. I don't think I can do this legally though as since my son was born after dec 2003 and the fathers name is on the birth cert - he does have parental rights doesn't he? Without this letter though - what are my options? I googled and saw something about getting a court order to say that it is in my sons best interest to change his name. I was wondering how long this would take to obtain and if it would then be a document I could forward onto the passport office? Or in order for us to take this holiday will I have to use his old name to get a passport and get his name changed on the tickets? The solicitor I dealt with previously is away until next week and the one I spoke to in his absence said something about he should have applied to the high court - not just done this name change deed - so it might not stand legally?? I am confused and very stressed and would love to be-able to sort this asap.

Sorry this is so long - thank you if you've read this far - I hope someone can help me!

Hi I met this girl in 1986 and we moved in together she already had a 9mth old boy in 1987 we decided to get married but she did not want to take the surname I had at the time , so I changed my name by deed poll. When we got married we decided to get her sons name changed by deed poll to my surname (new) we went to the solicitors had a chat with him about it and it was done within the hour. We have never had any problems with passports or anything like that as long as we used the original change of name document we had another child but we had his name on the birth certificate put in the same name as his older brother's to save confusing them with having diff names then after a short while changed his by deed poll also. We divorced in 1991 and I was awarded custody of both children they are now 25 and 26 and as long as they use the original document (deed poll) they have never had problems with getting passports , driving licences , bank accounts or anything like that. Also it is an offence to falsify legal documents and that includes birth certificates go to the registary office that issued the certificate and put your concernes about the legallity of the birth certif (it may not be legal) its worth checking ??? just for peace of mind.

OP - the other solicitor you wrote to is right (although it's the county court, not the high court).

You need to get the passport under his original name, and change the name on the ticket, for now. You also need to find out why you were given duff advice and told to do the change of name deed. Did the solicitor think that father's name wasn't on the birth certificate?

Also as daddydaycare suggests, speak to the register office about it, although I don't think it would invalidate his PR.

Thank you both for your help.

The passport office have said they will return his origional passport and as far as they are concerned I can only apply for a passport in the name as per his birth cert. until I have the correct docs. So as you suggest Collaborate I will just have to get the name changed on the tickets.

The solicitor was aware that the father was on the birth cert and therefore has parental rights - hence the letter and proof of this to the last known address. He said as long as an attempt at contact asking for permission was made then the name change deed could be drawn up.

I will sort out getting the name change done properly after the hol.

Thanks again - it's amazing what stress something like this has caused for me - I really trusted the solicitor and was surprised to find myself in this situation - will teach me to research things further for myself in future.

Thanks again!

All you need to do is write the letter to the Passport office saying what you've jsut siad.
you were never married to the father, and you have tried to contact him, but couldn't.

For this holiday, get a passport in his original name and sort itout when you get back (if that's what's happening)
if it's not for a holiday, then go to the County court as suggested and get it done that way.
You can get the passport changed/reissued after you have done this, if you don't have time to wait.

You could always do what my ex husband did and lie!!! He rang passport agency told them that he'd lost i, he got dd a new passport without my knowledge...
Just like to point out that when i got passport he wasnt mentioned on application on purpose because i didnt trust him!!!
And the passport agency were made aware and did nothing! So maybe that explains why so many kids vanish out of this country.