My son is just shy of being 8. There is no father listed on the birth certificate but, I know by law his biological father still has legal rights. His biological father has never had anything to do with him since I discovered I was pregnant. He wanted me to abort the child. Numerous times I tried to get him to have a part during pregnancy and he refused. Within the last year I started trying to get child support all though I have tried before in the past in a different state. The states can never find him although I have given all information I find on him. I was just told today that I am screwed getting child support because of Georgia laws versus Texas laws. I don't even want his money since I've wen raising my son without it for all these years. What I want to know is how can I go about changing his last name to my and my husbands last name? I was told once I could get his parental rights taken away because of child abandonment but I don't know how to do that. Any information would be greatly appreciated. I'd be happy if we could just give him the same last name as my husband and I plus our other 3 children. My husband ha been raising him since he was one and that's all my son know as dad.

Have you browsed through the information in LawInfo's Free Legal Resource Center to learn more about your issue yet? See: http://www.lawinfo.com/consumer.html and http://resources.lawinfo.com/en/index.html. You can certainly try to speak to a lawyer to determine what legal options may be available. In the meantime, you may be able to learn more on your own. Search the "Free Legal Resources" tab, or browse the Consumer Resources. Good luck.

What you're attempting is called a "back door adoption", and it's a no no. Just like all actions regarding children when another parent has or may have legal rights concerning that child, dad will need to be notified of the request for name change, and be given a chance to object. You should also know that a name change doesn't accomplish anything legally - the child's legal father would REMAIN the child's legal father, even with a name change. It's only cosmetic. If you step in front of a bus tomorrow, your husband would still a legal stranger to the child, and the state would work to reunite the child with the LEGAL father.

If you want to do this the right way, your husband is going to need to adopt the child, while at the same time asking the court to terminate dad's parental rights on the basis of abandonment. Since you can't find dad to have him served, you'll need to use the services of an experienced adoption attorney to make sure that "service by publication" step is gone correctly, lest the adoption be overturned at a later date. Unless dad should suddenly appear in court to contest the matter, it's not a terribly bad process, and your local family law attorneys should be able to quote you a reasonable fee, but it is an important process to get RIGHT.

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