Can I Change My Childs Name After A Seperation?

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Sometimes when parents separate one parent wants to change the name of the child for various reasons. You can change both the first or surname of the child.

You can change your child’s name if you have parental rights and responsibilities to the child. These are automatic if you are married to the other parent of the child or your name is on the child’s birth certificate. If both parents have parental rights and responsibilities then you need to get the consent of the other parent to change the name.

This is easily done. All you need to do is for both of you complete a preprinted and partly populated form available on the National Records of Scotland website, send to them and they will action this.

Please note however that the child’s original name if they are between 1 to 16 years of age will still be shown on the bottom of any new certificate issued with the words “formerly known as “. If they are under 1 year old then a fresh birth certificate will be issued without this wording.

Usually however this is not the situation we see. Either one parent objects to the change of name or the other parent does not have automatic parental rights and responsibilities to the child. Often one parent has already changed the child’s name with the school and GP on an informal basis.

In either of these cases then the parent objecting needs to raise a court action for the court to determine matters, if they or we are unable to resolve matters.

This article was prepared by Senior Associate Director, Nicola Buchanan.

The Scullion LAW Family Law team are here to help you resolve matters if you have any problems with the other parent on this and any other issues.

Our Head of Department and Executive Director Judith Higson and Nicola are both Accredited Family Law Specialists, Accredited Mediators and Collaboratively Trained Solicitors.

We have a wealth of experience spanning several decades to meet all of your family law needs and are ably assisted by our Associate Solicitor, Claire Thomas, Assistant Solicitor, Laura Cousins, and Paralegals, Liz Semple and Carly Russell.

We can be contacted on 0141 374 2121 or info@scullionlaw.com.

You can also contact us via our online enquiry form and a member of our Client Care Team will get back to you as quickly as possible.

The content of this article is for information only and is not intended to be construed as legal advice and should not be treated as a substitute for specific advice. Scullion LAW accepts no responsibility for the content of any third party website to which this article refers.