Name change age 11

[Retrovibes]

My friends son wants to change his surname to newly married name mums new surname.
Her son hasn't had contact with his father since he was 3.
There was dv which was proven in court by dad, police involvement and cafcass who ruled lots of supervised contact and dv course. So his dad said he wanted nothing to do with him and withdrew his application and neither mum or son have heard from him since.
How is she best to do about this please?
She also wants to get PR for new husband as well as herself. She knows it's hard to strip ex of PR so isn't interested in doing that. She just wants to protect son from ex incase she suddenly passes away or is taken ill.
Thanks

If the original father has PR she will need his consent for any name change. She will also need his consent to give PR to her new husband. If he will not consent her new husband can ask the courts to give him PR but she will have to try to get the father's consent first. The simplest approach may be to name her husband as her son's guardian in her will. That is not a guarantee but, if there is a dispute, it makes her wishes clear. It is unlikely the court would award residence to a father who has not had any contact for 8+ years.

Thanks.
She has contacted her ex twice and he has ignored her. She only has his email address which she found online. It was court ordered her ex keep her updated on address etc but he hasn't.
He, her ex, will ignore all communication and court orders, he isn't bothered at all.

Is there anyway she can get a name change without his consent? Because we know he won't turn up in court

I changed my dd name through a solicitor for £15 without permission. Exh tried it make me change it back via court route. He was refused.

Doubt the ex would bother in your case. .
And likely he would be refused if he did. .

She should be able to change it without permission if there is no contact and no money coming from him. They might ask his view as a courtesy but if he doesn't reply or says no then without a good reason they should still do it.

I managed to get dds name changed without fathers permission but different circumstances.

She can apply to the courts for a Specific Issue Order allowing her to change her son's name without consent. The courts are generally reluctant to allow a change of surname but they will allow it if they consider it is in the child's best interests.

She should be able to change it without permission if there is no contact and no money coming from him. They might ask his view as a courtesy but if he doesn't reply or says no then without a good reason they should still do it

Any change of name without either consent of everyone with PR or a suitable court order is invalid and is likely to be ignored by the passport office, schools, etc.

You can change the name without consent. A deed poll can be done yourself, no need for solicitors/courts. HOWEVER, places should refuse to accept it unless you can prove consent from everybody with PR. They can be in a lot of trouble for accepting it without that additional level of proof.

If contact has already been made to try and get consent and has been ignored, I suspect the next best step would be a letter sent recorded delivery to his last known address, once again asking for consent. If no answer apply to the court for a specific issues order on both and let the court decide.

Ex is paying csa.
She is going to try deedpoll first I think from giving her your opinions. Thanks

Even with deedpoll they dont do full checks so might gey past deedpoll but would get unstuck with passport or other offical places.

Deed polls are entirely unnecessary and expensive. Who are these mysterious "deed poll" people who either do checks or not? They don't exist. There are companies that will take your money unnecessarily when all you need is a simple change of name deed without the unnecessary faff of a deed poll.

Anyway OP - your friend is not entitled to do what she's thinking of without the consent of the father. He could take action to reverse it, and if he does so she'd be criticised by the judge.

If her ex doesn't respond to court orders or appear at hearings though is a judge likely to order in her favour based on her ex not turning up?

Quite possible, though she must still satisfy the judge that it's in the child's best interest to sever the one remaining link he has to his father.

Ex has another child he hasn't bothered with, she has established good regular contact for her son with his half sibling. She pushed the contact aged 3 before but it was ex that stalled at the "hoops" set by Cafcass and judges.
Knowing she may have a chance, I'll encourage her to do it the right way, which I know she wants. It's just hard for her son to carry this name around with him when all he feels is rejection. It's taken a lot to get him from anger, counselling etc. Poor lad

This happened in my family years ago. The Mum got round it by adding the husband's surname on and the child becoming known as that, relegating the ex's surname to a middle name.

So eg. Jack Jones became Jack Jones Smith, known as Jack Smith.

I don't know if that's still possible but worth considering.

That still needs either the consent of everyone with PR or a court order. People come up with all kinds of ways to try and get around this - double barrelling, a "known as" name and so on. None of them work. Try any of them and the courts will stop you if the other parent asks them to.

Why change a name, it's the only way the child is going to know the ancestry if they wanted to research in later life ?

As a muslim, we keep the father's name as the family name even if the parents divorce.