My child has no father listed on the birth certificate. My question is, can and how can go about putting a name on?
Long story short, bio has been out of the picture since about 3 months into pregnancy due to abuse. Bio doesn’t have any involvement, ghost.
My husband has been in our lifes since 2 yrs old. Hes dad.
Living in PA getting a name change is like pulling teeth, especially with kids. Bio has to legally give up rights, but there was never any DNA or anything of the sorts that confirm who’s the father ( I know who but legally there just isnt any proof) so I know we’d most likely have to go through the entire process, court costs etc just to get a new last name and bio would then have to agree to all of that. For adoption bio has to release his parental rights and then again court process.
Theres plenty of reasons why he cant be around but the number 1 is safety. He was the most extreme during pregnancy and if he didnt care then about my baby he doesn’t need to now. I disappeared when I ran.
Theres no record of anything.
So I just want to know if theres a way put my husbands name on the birth certificate and to go from there
Not saying this is what you should do but a lot of people either have their spouse sign an acknowledgment of paternity and then add them to the birth certificate if they know bio won’t ever come back around.
Alternatively you can say you don’t know who he is and then register with the pinafore fathers registry and go that route
Or
You can say you don’t know where he lives or is and ask to run an add in the paper at his last known location posting about the pending adoption
Just track down bio dad, get him to give up his rights and have your husband adopt. But if you guys break up down the road, he’ll be responsible financially for that child
You’ll probably need a lawyer to help you attempt to contact bio father and give bio reasonable time to respond and if there’s no response then your husband should be able to legally adopt. My cousin had to put something in the paper for her daughter bc her bio father is illegal and she didn’t know how to contact him otherwise.
File to adopt tell them you dont know bio…they will prob make you post it in local paper twice and then husband can adopt…i went through this with my oldest before my SO past away he was going to adopt my oldest
If he was the bio father I would say send in a agnowledgement of paternity. Since he isnt I think the only legal way would be if your husband adopts him.
It’s illegal to lie about who his bio dad is on a BC. Not to mention if later on a DNA test needs to be done or something then it would come up, or say you and your husband get divorced then he would be listed as the bio father. I wouldn’t lie to your son about who half of him is. He can still legally adopt him with out being on his BC.
Just keep saying you don’t know who the biological father is. You can’t just put your husbands name on the birth certificate tho since it’s a legal binding document and could get you in trouble so keep it as unknown and if he wants to adopt your son then I suggest going to court and asking if he can adopt him and just say you don’t know who the father is
I live in PA too and when I had my son, my fiance and I weren’t married. We had to fill out a separate form to legally have him added to my son’s birth certificate, even though my son was legally given his last name. The best place to start is this website
Adoption is the only way. Which you’d have to do the court process of getting bios rights taken or given up. Trying to just add someone who is t the dad is fraud and can have serious consequences
Don’t you dare attempt to rewrite your childs ancestry and history. That is NOT your call to make. Speaking as a former child with an abusive bio, and the wrong man on my birth certificate… do not make that decision for your child. Don’t manipulate them into agreeing either. When they are truly old enough to understand, and they bring the idea to you THEN start thinking about it. As a kid I’d have taken any man’s last name and signature. As an adult I wish my BC could be left blank. I’ve grown up with horrible anger and resentment towards my mother. She died with us having never fixed things. Just leave it alone. My sisters step mom did plenty of legal mom things behind my mom’s back. Your husband and you can make due too. This isn’t your life, story, or history to rewrite.
Get a lawyer. Say you dont know where bio dad is as hes never been involved and you can’t search for him because he was abusive and you dont want him to know where you are…Lawyers are good at kinda twisting stuff around looking for loopholes without actually breaking any laws …
Good luck
Just leave well enough alone. If you break up with the husband, you don’t want to give him any free ammo for the custody wars. No kidding - you picked a loser once, what is to say you haven’t done it twice? Think ahead. Think “just in case”.
Leave it be. My kids want their last names changed I told them when they turn 18 idc. Because 1. Legal battle 2. Finding bio. 3. It confuses the child and they flip flop on what to do. Can always put in paper theh go by this name or this last name. But keep legal name alone. Even for adoption. Just leave names alone. Trust me if I could change my kids last names I would but after awhile came to realize my mom once asked me if I wanted to legally change mine I said yeah! Never changed it… Now as an adult I carry my fathers last name changed it due to marriage shouldn’t have but I’ll carry my fathers legal last name till end of time. Its something for kids to decide as an adult.
There is no DNA test required to establish paternity. Also when establishing paternity most states will allow you to do a name change. Now do as you please with that information. I had kids with an abusive person and he had an ex who also had kids with him, I stupidly acknowledged him as there dad and now they have ptsd from his abuse and manipulations and he will never leave us alone. His ex who got married and had her husband sign the birth certificate now has well balanced children in collage.
You cannot lie on birth certificate about who the father is. Your husband can adopt the child but do not put him on the child’s birth certificate. A big no no !!
Just lie and say that you don’t know who the father is - that way they don’t try and find him to dna test and add him. Just have your husband adopt your child it should be easy without anyone “in the way”
I personally am waiting until my child is old enough to make that decision for herself. Her bio dad has been out of the picture for 5 years. My husband treats her as his own.
Ypu put your husband on there and you split that man still has rights to child and could still have to pay child support on a baby that ain’t his. Now if you lie and courts find out you in trouble
Legally they will want to establish paternity. Then your husband needs to adopt. Also if dad is abusive then they look at that while in the process with court. Dont do what others are suggesting like lie. That isnt going to end well. Do things by the book so YOU dont get in trouble & make it worse on the kiddo.
The whole process is a pain in the ass, no matter how you go about it. We’re in Maryland and in the process of my husband adopting my two youngest. One biological father signed his rights away, with no issue. He hadn’t seen the kid in 8 years, but was paying child support. The other, even though he’s never paid a penny and hasn’t seen the kid in 5 years, refused to sign his rights over. I made several “good faith” attempts to contact him and notify him of our intent for my husband to adopt her on the grounds of abandonment, with no response from him. So we petitioned the courts to strip his rights and allow my husband to adopt. Like I said, it’s a pain in the ass process, but it’s worth the time and money in the end.
My ex has never met my daughter and from what his family says he has no desire and claims she isn’t his.he wasn’t on the bc so my now husband signed the bc as the father and they gave a spot for name change on the form I had to fill out. It was like a 25 dollar fee I believe to add him and get the new bc. This was in michigan.call the courthouse and ask how u can add “father” to bc
You either have to do a step parent adoption or an acknowledgment of paternity. Either way, biological father has to be served. If serving him is an issue you can try a skip trace and a due diligence to prove to the court you’ve done all you can to try to find him. You’ll most likely have to do a constructive service (post an ad on the local newspaper). If then no service or response from bio dad is made, then the court might grant the adoption.
There has to be no contact for 2 years and then your husband can formally adopt. If your child’s biological father isn’t on the birth certificate, he has no parental rights so you don’t have to ask his permission for anything. I’m going through the same situation myself but my partner has been involved since they was few weeks old x
Why do girls feel the need to always add a guy they’re married to or not married just long term bf/gf to their child’s birth certificate then they’re complaining to remove them because they are not together ! Please STOP adding guys to your childs birth certificate. He can adopt him !
Yeah I don’t know, doesn’t seem right to add his name to the birth certificate when he’s not the father. Not to mention if you break up (as much as you love him now, you don’t know what the future holds) he then has rights to your son as he’s listed as his biological father. Honestly, it’s madness
If bio dad isn’t named on the birth cert, there is no rights to sign away. HE HAS NONE! Signing the birth cert establishes those rights. If bio dad never signed, HE HAS NO RIGHTS, PERIOD. No offense, if she “suddenly” doesnt know who bio dad is, how can anyone be tracked down to sign over/or be served with abandonment papers
You can’t just add someone to a birth certificate (after the fact) without a paternity test. You’ll have to follow the legal hoops and file for abandonment, have his parental rights released and then have new husband adopt.
Firstly, abuse against you doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a right to the child, I learned that the hard way, secondly, you’re intentionally denying bio dad’s rights to the child just because well, you feel like it. You cannot go around the system to suit your needs. It seems as if you’re trying to take short cuts so that the bio dad doesn’t find out. Get a lawyer, do it the legal way.
Husband can adopt him. If there is no DNA test and no birth certificate, I don’t believe he has to give any rights up–he never had any! Look up the laws in your state! Good luck mama.
U just asked about committing a federal crime on an open public forum!!! Not only is against federal law to do what u ask it’s wrong morally for so many reasons. Honesty is always the best policy!!! Get a family attorney they will handle all the red tape.
Call a lawyer and say you have no clue who the father is and have no real way of finding out but your guy wants to adopt your kid. Ask them how you’d go about it that way.
Be careful you might open a can of worms you don’t want. Bio-dad might decide he wants to be part of your child’s life. And unless he’s done unspeakable things he might get some rights.
In my state and of course theyre all different, you would have to get a court ordered DNA test to establish paternity with bio dad. From there, you have to be married two years to your spouse, bio dad to sign all rights away to spouse and then go through process of spouse legally adopting kiddo. Again, this is gonna vary by state. However, I do know in most states if bio dad has not made any attempts to contact you for 6mnths to a 1 yr they consider that abandonment of the child. I also know in many states if you never marry the bio parent and they’re not on the b.c, mom has sole custody until otherwise court ordered. Long story short, go call your courthouse and ask what your options are and what you need to do or go hit up a lawyer and do the same. They’ll have more answers than anyone here regarding your local laws.
There is zero help for abused women and no one will ever advocate for you or the child in an abusive situation. Unfortunately, they have to contact the biological father, so I would absolutely get a lawyer for help.
My suggestion would be to just change the last name. You can change a name easily, but birth certificate dad issues get muddy. I’m going through the same thing with my twins right now in Maryland. Good luck mama.
Please reach out to your local domestic violence organization and get help from their legal department. It’s also going to differ depending on state. As a person working in social work this is what I’d advise a client to do.
Have him adopt them you go threw the court and end up putting something in the paper if he don’t answer then your husband can adopt them and give them his last name I have a friend he is doing this now to adopt his wife’s son
If you knowingly lie on a legal document like a birth certificate you will face legal consequences. Your husband would probably as well because he agreed. What good does that do for the child?
In my state ga if the child has been abandoned by a parent (6months to a year of no contact what so ever) they lose and have no rights. We paid 2000 for my husband to adopt my son. Sons bio was on the bc, we were not married, and had no DNA proof. Still had to go through the court process. We also had to be married for 6 months to a year before hand. Just find a lawyer who specializes in adoptions.
You can’t put his name on birth certificate- because he is not the father. You can certainly get your current partner to adopt child so he will have parental responsibility
Why would you even consider listing someone else as the father? That is simply not fair to your child and a flat out lie. Idc what he did. The facts are the facts and the birth certificate is a recording of fact, not bs you made up or feel.
You should see about parental abandonment laws in your state. Most states will allow you to file to have rights removed on grounds of parental abandonment as long as there is someone there that will adopt the child.
Absolutely unbelievable that so many women think that this is ok…
U can not change facts… I feel for these babies having such deceitful liars as so called mothers…
I would just leave it alone. He’s not the father. Why does he need to be on the birth certificate or adopt the child? If he adopts your child and you guys get divorced, he can fight you for custody. I don’t see why you would want to risk losing your child for someone who is not even their dad.
I live in Pennsylvania and called harrisburgh and they told me that i could change my daughgers last name to mstch mind and my husbands without adding my husbsnd to the birth certificate. And thst the bio/sperm donor wouldhave no saybc i woulf just be changing her last name to match mine. And bio wouldn’t need to sign away right therefore if u do get child support it won’teffect it at all and the only cost would be 20 for a new certificate
Instead of putting this out there publically why don’t you just ask the advice of an attorney? If you can’t afford one there are other ways to get help with payment. You need to get off Facebook and speak to a legal person!!
He’s not your kids dad. Stop putting random ass men on your kids birth certificate. The birth certificate is for your CHILD to know when/where they were born and who their PARENTS are. Not some man mommy is dating at the time
So I actually went through the adoption process as the child and if there’s no legal proof you can have your husband put on the birth certificate as the father if you say that you don’t know who the real father is
File for abandonment especially if you do not know where this person is… just state you Dont remember the name of the person. Was a 1 night stand and never heard from them again
Just make up a dad and have him sign away. His rights. My daughter got married and all she had to do was pay 85 dollars to addd. Hed new husbands name to the birth certificate since it was blank. She just said that was her sons dad
I live in PA and my oldest daughter’s bio father was never in the picture. He wasn’t on the birth certificate and never involved. My now husband has been in her life since she was 2 months old. We got married when she was 5. THEN we filed a petition to have him adopt her. The bio father signed right away making the process fairly simple.
We were told we had to be married for this to go through. And it didn’t matter if I had her bio dad listed on the BC or not. I still had to go through this process since my husband isn’t the bio father. Once the adoption process was finalized we were able to change her name as well as add my husband to her BC
If your son calls Him dad, then he’s dad. the piece of paper Shouldn’t really matter bedsides legal issues if you two were to
Split then he would have rights to Take him.
I see you catching a lot of shit here, but if bio dad is truly the monster you make him out to be and not safe for you or your child, I’d just say I don’t know who the bio dad is and have my husband adopt my son. Leave birth certificate as is.
In missouri if you don’t know where bio lives they can advertise it in the paper for 4 weeks where you live saying baby will be adopted if no response for father of he doesn’t respond your husband will automatically be able to adopt him
I don’t think it would be wise to purposely put an incorrect father on an original birth certificate. I would think you could manage an adoption citing abandonment or bio father unknown
the 
the piece of paper Shouldn’t really matter bedsides legal issues if you two were to
hell if you dnt know who he is, he can’t be contacted 