Changing your surname upon marriage - Legal aid centre

Questioner

Dear legal aid team. I became the mother of a beautiful daughter in 2009. I did everything on my own, my ex at the time came after the birth to see his child and unfortunately I fell for the idea that he was allowed to recognize my daughter. My daughter does have MY last name. After all this, neither my daughter nor I ever heard from him again. Now almost 5 years later, we are completely happy. I met my boyfriend in 2010 and we now live together and are expecting a child at the end of this year. Now we also want to get married soon enough, so I get my boyfriend's last name and our child too. Can we have my daughter change her last name so we all have the same last name? And how much will this cost? I read that you can also do this for free on the day you get married...is this correct??? Can you please help us??? Thank you in advance

Lawyer

Your daughter's name can only be changed on the day you get married. You and your future spouse must then both sign a deed of name choice. After the marriage, name changes are no longer possible. Therefore, inform the registrar of the municipality where you are getting married or your partnership is registered well in advance that you want to change the surname of your child(ren). However, the rules may differ per municipality. Whether it is completely free in your municipality, you can best inquire with your municipality. In the worst case, it could involve an amount of €835.

Questioner

Dear Mrs. de Boer, Thank you very much for your answer. This helped us a lot! We will contact the municipality soon. Thanks again..