Can my ex change daughters name?

[WhatToDo]

When my daughter was born, my ex and I were not married. We gave my daughter my last name. It has been that way for 6 years. A couple weeks ago I had a CS hearing. I received the papers from that hearing yesterday. On the papers, my daughters name now has my ex's last name.

My ex and I have joint legal custody and my ex has physical custody.

1. Can my ex change my daughter's last name without my knowledge?

2. How can I find out if and when this was done?

[socrateaser]

>1. Can my ex change my daughter's last name without my
>knowledge?

Ex must file a motion/petition with the court for a name change, and then serve you notice of the action. If she did this and you never appeared to oppose the name change, then the court can order it.

>
>2. How can I find out if and when this was done?

Go to the courthouse and look up all the cases with your last name, including your own custody action file. The evidence should be there. Maybe the mother just decided on her own to use her name in the papers, and that's not the child's correct legal name. You can also serve a request for interrogatories on the other parent and ask when the child's name was changed, what the case number and court associated with that change was, and for her to provide you with the date when you were served with notice of the hearing for the name change.

Then you can use that info to get the case file and see what's happening.

[DecentDad]

If your ex's attorney drafted the paperwork, or if the court clerk did (you said it was sent to you), it's quite possible that the person just put the wrong last name in a careless error.

On various papers, I've seen my paternity case called a marriage, I've seen my daughter's DOB changed to current year, and I've seen my ex's name written with my own last name (though she never had it in the first place).

It's possible that your ex did something sneaky (per what Soc outlined), but don't overlook simple error as a cause.