Removing father from birth certificate

TBagpuss

Also, a step parent will not be able to adopt without the consent of the natural father.

If you don't want your son going by his father's name than you may be able to make an application to the court to allow you to change his name.
He would have to be given notice of the application but if there are good reasons why it would not be in your son'e sinsterst to be assocciated with his father (for instance, if father has been convicted of a particualry serious or high profile crime) then a court may be prepared to grant the change.

If ou son already has your name and it is just that his father tis also named on the birth certificate, then no, you cannot change that. It is factual record of paternity.

InsideInsurance

As you arent saying publically whats happened its hard to judge but I cannot think of any circumstances where simply having a name on a piece of paper that you use only a few times in your life is really going to make much difference.

You could adopt him which would give him an adoption certificate which can be used in place of a birth certificate anywhere. To be honest, as someone who is adopted, handing over an adoption certificate tends to raise more questions than someone handing over a birth certificate that has the two biological parents named on it.

fivetide

Even if it can't come off (the name), it isn't the end of the world. Remember, a father doesn't have to be biological, looking up to another role model (your partner) can more than fill the shoes of someone it sounds like he'd never want to know anyway.

On that basis, he might even change the name himself if needed when he is old enough.

I'm sure your son knows that you are proud of him and have his best interests at heart. That's the most important thing.

Nicki

It might help to think about why you want to do this.

Your son knows who his father is (or you plan to tell him) so removing his name from the birth certificate will not change that.

Your son can use either a short birth certificate (which doesn't have parents names on it) or his passport or driving license for most situations in the future so won't have to hand over a document with the name of (for example) a notorious criminal on it.

The very few situations where a full certificate is needed (eg when applying for a first passport) are situations where the person entitled to see it will be bound by obligations of confidence, so legally aren't allowed to disclose the relationship to anyone else anyway.

The registers of birth are still manually made up each year and open for inspection. If a new certificate was permitted to be issued, it would still be possible for someone digging for dirt on your son to go back and inspect the physical register. But realistically is that likely to happen? Without knowing the reasons for your request that is hard to judge but I'd say it would be unlikely in most situations.

If it is possible to change the certificate though, is there a good reason to do it now? Your son is 14. What will happen in the next 4 years to make this an issue? Could it wait until he is 18 and old enough to decide for himself whether he does or doesn't want one parent expunged from his official records?

lulu_92

Like it or not, this man helped create your son and regardless of what he has done there's not a lot you can do about that. If he is the scum that you say you are he still has the right to be on the certificate (obviously for us it is hard without knowing what he has done)

I've not seen my dad for 17 or so years now and I had his last name until my mum remarried the man I now call dad. Deed polls are a good way to get around it.

whitewing

I am making an assumption that the OP does not want her son to stumble across press reports or information by accident himself before they have had the chance to tell him properly at a time when he is more mature and they can put support systems in place.

MCMitten

Thank you all for taking the time to reply, it's greatly appreciated we are going to change his name as a first step and we have thought of alternative reasons for this to explain to him why we're doing it... he's only 14 and isn't ready to take on board the real reason as for the birth certificate, I suppose my reasons are that I simply don't want that man's name associated with my child in anyway... maybe I'm still reeling from it all to think properly and it has helped a lot just having some sane people to just give me the facts I like the idea of the shortened version if all else fails my son knows his dad's name so I suppose taking it off isn't going to change anything... I just hate the fact that it's there

Voyager2002

The simplest solution is for your partner to adopt him: step-parent adoption is a fairly cheap and painless process, something that I went through without needing a solicitor. It would be natural to change his surname to that of your partner along with this process, and the whole thing could be presented to your child as affirming that the man who now cares for him is legally and in truth his Dad.

Under normal circumstances the permission of the biological parent is needed for adoption to take place (as posted above), but there are ways round this...

CH27

MCMitten wrote: »

Thank you all for taking the time to reply, it's greatly appreciated we are going to change his name as a first step and we have thought of alternative reasons for this to explain to him why we're doing it... he's only 14 and isn't ready to take on board the real reason as for the birth certificate, I suppose my reasons are that I simply don't want that man's name associated with my child in anyway... maybe I'm still reeling from it all to think properly and it has helped a lot just having some sane people to just give me the facts I like the idea of the shortened version if all else fails my son knows his dad's name so I suppose taking it off isn't going to change anything... I just hate the fact that it's there

Is changing it in your son's best interests?
You could be opening up a can of worms.

MCMitten

That's great voyager. .. Thank you adoption is something we could look into, but I know his biological father wouldn't give permission! I think we could maybe get around that like you say as he's not going to have any rights in society for a very long time x