name change?

[Virtual_Ron]

My parents have had legal custody of a 15-year old girl. They've had legal custoday of her for over 13 years. They were avoiding "talk" of adoption for a while because the bio mother goes nuts everytime the subject is brought up. The bio mother hasn't made contact in years and life in another part of the country. Currently my parents don't have the money to file for adoption, and my sister is bothered by having to user her bio mothers last name. She wants to know if she could just change her name for now. Is this possible? Or, how old do you have to be? Any ideas???

 

[lawrat]

Well, if you really want your sister to be happy, you should consider filing abandonment against her mom. The court will most likely grant it. This would then lead to the opp. for her to be adopted.


If you don't want to hire an attorney just yet, at least speak to one at www.attorneypages.com or call your State Bar Association attorney referral service. There are also plenty of family legal aid organizatons out there to help you at low cost or no cost.


You can try a name change but they may not grant one to a minor even with a legal guardian.



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I am a law school graduate. What I offer is mere information, not to be construed as forming an attorney client relationship.