Name change from outside the country
Hi Everyone,
I live most of the time in Hungary, but I do still retain a residence in Berkeley; still pay US taxes and all that.
My daughter (8yo) was born in Oakland, but she's also a dual citizen (her mother is Hungarian).
We're getting divorced in Hungary, and we want to change my daughter's last name so that it contains both of our family names, in order to reduce potential confusion at any given international border. (Right now my daughter has my last name.)
We can change her name here with no real problem, but in the States it's more complicated. As far as I understand, I (we) would need to do it through the court system, which is a lengthy waiting process, and I'm not in California, nor will I be there in the near-future long enough for the 6-12 week waiting for the court date, and then all the rest, blah blah blah.
Any advice for how to get this done from here? FYI: it's not possible through the embassy (they told me so directly).
Any insights would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Sincereley,
Ben
Parent Replies
I found this online
https://eforms.com/name-change/ca/
looks to me that you don't have be here for anything except the actual court hearing. You could download all of the forms, fill them out, and then have someone else file them with the court for you. This is when you are given your hearing date/time (per this website, approximately 6 weeks after you file). You would then book your flight to appear at the hearing on the appointed day.
Depending on how nice the clerk is, the person who is filing your papers might even be able to request a particular date, as long as it is at least 6 weeks after the filing.
It might be worth it to hire a lawyer to file your papers and that way you'd be more sure there wouldn't be some last minute problem with your papers (i.e., you arrive at the hearing and the judge says, wait, you're missing this - come back in 6 weeks).