Attorneys at Law
Adoption and Name Changes
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Adoption
Adoption is a legal process that permanently transfers parental rights and responsibilities from a child's biological parent to an adoptive parent. Once finalized, the adopted child has the same legal rights, benefits, and inheritance privileges as a biological child. In some instances, prior to initiating the adoption proceedings, you must first file to involuntary terminate a parent's parental rights. These proceedings can be started by a private party or by the Commonwealth. Common legal grounds to terminate a parent's rights include abondenment, severe abuse or neglect, parental unfitness, or failure to complete court-ordered rehabilitation plans while the child(ren) is in foster care.
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Name Changes
A name change is a process used to officially adopt a name other than the one you were given at birth. The process does require you to be fingerprinted in every county the individual whose name is being changed has resided in the last five years, two newspaper publications, and a formal court hearing. The Court will inquire and make sure you do not have criminal intent nor outstanding financial judgements which you are avoiding by requesting the name change.
A parent can request a name change on his/her child(ren)'s behalf. The process is the same as for an adult, except the law requires any individual with parental rights to the child to be noticed about the requested name change.
If you'd like to retake your maiden name, you do not need to file a formal name change. You can file a request to retake your former name.