Divorce Advice for Men | Fathers Rights Divorce | Child Custody

By Jennifer M. Paine

Attorney, Cordell & Cordell

Note: This is part 1 of a two-part series on name changes after a divorce. Part 2 addressed what needs to be done if someone in your family does change names.

That debate you had before your marriage - should your wife change her last name or keep her maiden name, hyphenate it or use both - will resurface when you divorce.

If your ex-wife will not change her last name, can you force her to? The short answer is, no. But there are exceptions.

Question:

My fiancee is on Medicaid. Toward the end of her pregnancy she said that Medicaid would not cover our baby if he had my last name. At the time I didn't question her because she said once we were married we could change his name to mine. Now everyone is telling me that is not true. Who is right?

Question: 

In my divorce decree, my ex-wife requested and the court granted the return/use of her maiden name. Now however, I'm finding that she either uses the maiden-married surname and sometimes she continues using just my last name/her married name. Is this legal?

Question:

My ex, refuses to use our child's legal last name in school. Yes, she is enrolled as my last name but my ex and my child informed me that the teachers and school faculty call our child by her mother’s last name instead.

My ex says it’s easier that way when signing her in and out of school/daycare. She does this so much that our child thinks her last name is the same as her mothers.

My last name is on the birth certificate and I have 50% legal custody. I pay support and never miss my visitation with our child. How can I get the school to stop using my ex's last name for our child and ONLY use her legal last name (which is mine)?