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He was born with both our sir names names as his sir name, e.g Richard Wilson smith, and says this on his birth certificate, but Its came to my attention that as far as school goes, he's not using my sir name, this probably isn't just school either, possibly everything that requires his name.
He is only 5 so he didn't decide this himself, mum did. can she do this? And if not what steps can I take to have this rectified? So he is using my name which it legally is?
All advice opinions helpful
Thank you
Hi there
In the first instance you could try talking to the mother, if she won't listen then you can approach the school and ask for his birth name to be recognised.
It's a grey area, you can call your child by another name unofficially, but official documents would still have to be in the child's birth name.
You could take it court but you would need to try to sort it out at mediation first, if this wasn't successful you could apply to the court for a specific issue order. This would most likely get her back up and she may then start playing about with the contact time you have with your son, so if it got to this stage, I would suggest applying for a Child Arrangements Order as well, to get your contact time set.
If you already have a court order for contact in place, it should state on the order that the child's name cannot be changed. In this case you can apply for this to be enforced I think, check out your order and then call Coram child advice line to get clarification on whether enforcement would be appropriate. If you can apply for enforcement, you wouldn't need to go to mediation first. In this instance the form you would require is C79.
All the best.
Just to clarify, when it says it has both your surnames on his birth certificate, is that as his surname, or is one of them used as a middle name?
Hi
Our surnames make up his sir name
E.g Simon Wilson smith
He has no middle name
Thank you
His school name surly would need to be his official name, I.e hers and my surname not just hers which she is currently doing. So to clarify a specific issue order could make her use his birth born name at school and other such as medical etc?
Thank you
Strictly speaking the schools should insist the child uses the name on the birth certificate, but as said, its a grey area. If you can't speak to your ex about it, I really do advise talking to the school, ask for an appointment and take along your child's birth certificate. ... See what they have to say, at that point you can also ask that you be included on the contact details to receive information about events, shows and parent evenings.
If none of this works then you can apply to court for an SIO, or more advisedly, a Child Arrangements Order, where you can address the issue of names and being kept informed, as well as getting your contact times set.
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