"11. Applying for a court order to change your child's name without the consent of the other parent
If the other parent (with parental responsibility) will not consent to your child's name change or you wish to guarantee the acceptance of your child's Deed Poll, you should consider applying to your local family court for leave (permission) to change your child's name by Deed Poll without the other parent's consent. A court will give permission if it believes it will be in your child's best interests to allow the name change. The court will take into account the degree of commitment of the other parent to your child and the quality and frequency of the contact between the other parent and your child.
Your child's age is also a significant factor. If your child is under the age of five, it will be difficult to persuade a judge that it is in your child's best interests to permit a name change. Being so young, it is unlikely your child will be experiencing emotional or behavioural problems or is upset by having to use the absent parent's name. However, if your child is at least 11 years of age, it is much easier to obtain a court order because when a child reaches adolescence, judges take the child's views into account. If your child is 14 years of age or over, it is very easy to obtain a court order because your child's views will be paramount.
Please note, your chances of successfully obtaining a court order (for children of all ages) is greatly increased if you do not seek to remove the absent parent's surname from your child's surname (i.e. by double-barrelling your child's surname). For young children, a two-stage strategy should be considered i.e. initially apply to change to a double-barrelled surname and if successful, you can apply again when your child is 11 years of age to have the absent parent's name removed altogether.
If your child does not have the absent parent's surname, you should not have a problem at all obtaining a court order because there is no link to the absent parent that is being broken by allowing a surname change.
Applying for a court order is not difficult and it is possible to do it yourself if you live in England or Wales (Scotland is more complicated and legal advice is recommended). Do not be put off from doing what you think will be a daunting experience. Although there are court fees to pay, if you are on benefits, the fees are reduced or even waived. If you obtain a court order, you can then apply to us for your child's Deed Poll. The court order replaces the father's consent.
If the absent parent's whereabouts is not known, before applying for a court order, you should consider trying to change your child's name records by Deed Poll first. If you successfully change your child's name records and obtain a passport without a court order, which may happen, you will have saved yourself the time and expense of going to court. You will need a Deed Poll even if you obtain a court order so if your chances of successfully obtaining a court order are high, you might as well apply for a Deed Poll first and see what happens."