Tag Archive for: name changes

NJ Supreme Court Rules In Battle Over Kids’ Last Name Change

If you’re thinking about changing your child’s last name post-divorce, make sure you can give a judge a compelling reason why doing is a benefit to the child. That’s the message in a new New Jersey Surpreme Court ruling in which a Burlington County woman’s name changes for her children were overturned. Read more

How To Change Your Name Post-Divorce: A Check List


What’s in a name? If you are trying to make the difficult decision of whether or not to change your last name following your divorce, you may have already come up against some very conflicted thoughts… Read more

Whose Last Name Does the Child Carry Post-Divorce?

In New Jersey as in other states discussing children and parenting legal issues, the tradition of a child taking his or her father’s last name was once the standard. In recent years, however, the courts have set a new standard for names, this one is based on what the best interests of the child might be. The court is quite firm that this standard has no relationship to gender-based traditions: that is, it’s not automatic that children should carry their father’s name, if it can be shown that this isn’t in the child’s best interest.

When might it be in the best interest of the child to change names? The Superior Court has listed 4 key factors to be considered in applying this best-interests standard: Read more