Can a child aged 15 change their last name without fathers consent?

[Emz2019]

My partner went to see his children ftpm a previous marriage tonight and his daughter 15 pipes up her certificate arrives tomorrow with her name sur name on, and she’s taking her mothers sur name...... we are in uk north west, is this legal does anyone know?

When is she 16? Soon?

Not sure about 15 but I changed mine about aged 16.

It sounds as if it's all kosher considering her certificate arrives tomorrow. The normal
Process and due diligence would need to have been carried out. If it as completely illegal it wouldn't have been allowed to happen.

I would say each person with parental responsibility should have a say in it. Does your partner / her father have parental rights? Is he named on the certificate? I think the mother can issue an application to make a change in some circumstances. Why is she changing the name?

Also why does it make a difference if you're in the North West?

Because the North West is the best bit

Whether it's legal or not is moot. She's chosen to take her mother's name and she can be known by it if she wishes. Unless you're checking she's done it legally for her own benefit it then it really doesn't matter to you.
Also in the UK North West if it matters that much!

It’s legal for her to change it without approval when she’s 16. It can be done when she’s 15 if she and a parent agree. The other parent is supposed to be told to give them the chance to object but I can’t find anything to say that an objection would actually stop the change. I think that if the other parent objects, the child and the parent that approves the change would have to get a court order. As the child in this case is months from being able to change their name without approval I can’t imagine the court refusing a court order. So he should have been told sooner (assuming he has parental responsibility) but it wouldn’t have changed the eventual outcome.

At 15, her name can only be changed with the consent of everyone who has PR. At 16 she can do it herself by deed poll

www.gov.uk/change-name-deed-poll/change-a-childs-name

How long until her birthday? Is it really worth making an issue of?

However, it might be worth pointing out that she should get the deed poll done (again) once she reaches 16, as the current one isn't valid (assuming DP has PR and has not consented)

I think your partner should respect his daughter's decision.

Yes he has parental responsibility, yes he’s on her birth certificate, she’s 16 in 3 months, her mother is remarrying and pregnant with this mans child, my partner has a court order stating which dates he has the children which is every weekend but lately the ex is stating they don’t want to see him and has refused to turn up during lock down but when he did see them tonight his children asked why he hasn’t been turning up for them at the new meeting place, so my guess is their mother has told them there is a new meeting place and been taking them there and pretending their dad doesn’t want to see them when he’s been turning up at the meeting place in the hope of them turning up and his ex messaging saying they don’t want to see him but he’s found it hard to get back to court with the lock down rules and Caffcass have said they need to take it back to court. But he’s a bit upset his daughter has changed her name from his name and he hasn’t heard anything about it until now

She's 16 in 3 months so just leave her to it, if it isn't legal she can change it in 3 months time anyway

If she’s nearly 16 at least he can contact her directly during the week and make sure she knows when and where he’ll pick her up.

Does he have parental responsibility? If so, no it's not legal.

Even at 16, but under 18, it is expected that consent obtained from both parents who have PR.

Otherwise a court application should have been made by the Mother for a specific issue order.

Take legal advice if the change is a problem for anyone.

Can your DP not bypass the mother and speak to the 16 year old directly about seeing her? Seems the name change is a subsidiary issue to the mother's games.

My sister had to wait until her 16th birthday to change her name because her birth father/sperm donor wouldn't agree to it (despite not having seen her for 12 years)

Legal or not it sounds like it would do more harm to their relationship for him to challenge it than it would letting it be. She she had asked his consent about her own name at 15 would he really have said no?

@Emz2019

Yes he has parental responsibility, yes he’s on her birth certificate, she’s 16 in 3 months, her mother is remarrying and pregnant with this mans child, my partner has a court order stating which dates he has the children which is every weekend but lately the ex is stating they don’t want to see him and has refused to turn up during lock down but when he did see them tonight his children asked why he hasn’t been turning up for them at the new meeting place, so my guess is their mother has told them there is a new meeting place and been taking them there and pretending their dad doesn’t want to see them when he’s been turning up at the meeting place in the hope of them turning up and his ex messaging saying they don’t want to see him but he’s found it hard to get back to court with the lock down rules and Caffcass have said they need to take it back to court. But he’s a bit upset his daughter has changed her name from his name and he hasn’t heard anything about it until now

That sounds awful. What a horrible thing to do to the kids.

He needs to respect her decision. She will resent it otherwise.

Why on earth is a nearly 16yo child being subjected to a court order for visitation? That seems like so much overkill - at this age surely the child can and should be allowed to make their own arrangements to see the parent they don't live with? Keep in contact via other means such as WhatsApp? Etc.

It sounds like her mum has been pretty sneaky...but why doesn't he have direct contact with his 15 year old DD? Surely she has a phone and email account.

Did the say the kids didn't want to see him verbally or in writing? It's sounding like the Ex wants to airbrush him out of the picture. Terrible and damaging behaviour for the children involved.

The name is irrelevant, she's still his daughter whatever she wants to call herself.

With that story about visits, the name really isn't the biggest issue here, but if his daughter is almost 16 why isn't he contacting her directly and she him, when she wants him?