Child’s Last Name

[BangnaBound]

A Thai friend’s daughter is currently living with her Thai father in Thailand, but is not covered by the father’s medical insurance as the daughter has the mother’s last name. They originally had a traditional ceremony and did not register at the amphur office, but are now separated. She believes she needs to file the paper work to change the last name of her child to that of the father, so that he can claim the daughter as a dependent and receive the tax benefits and issuance coverage from the multinational at which he works. Her concern about changing her daughter’s last name is possible difficulties she may face when traveling abroad with her daughter.

I don’t understand why the last name should effect either situation. Does anyone know if this is truly the case, or is she misinformed?

[Chang_paarp]

There are a couple of issues here.

1) The father should be listed on the birth certificate. This will be enough for the company as any company with more than a few employees will be used to having children and dependants with different family/last names to the employee. It is not unknown in many countries for the parents of a child to never having been married (30% in Oz) .

2) The father should be able to claim the benefit for the support. If the child does in-fact live with him and again he is on the birth certificate there should not be an issue. In some cultures the sons take on the family name of the father and the daughters take the name of the mother. Not uncommon in Asia. Also not uncommon for there to have been more than one spouse through the life of a person and a mixture of names for dependants or children.

The father may be wanting to exert some extra influence, but from what you have said the name should not be an issue.

By the same set of mores, the mother should not have issues travelling with the daughter if they have different names. I would be asking more questions for clarification.

edit for clarity.

Edited March 27, 2007 by Chang_paarp

[BangnaBound]

Thank you. This is what I thought as well. The father is listed on the birth certificate and this is a very large multinational. The father is saying he asked HR already, and they said they can’t include the daughter as a dependent without the same last name. I suspect someone is just being lazy.

[Chang_paarp]

I can imagine what sort of reaction that sort of reply would get in any of the larger cities that multinationals operate , not the HR policy as understood by head office.

[BangnaBound]

Would it make more sense to purse this with the local office and tell them to check the rules again, or go right to head office and ask their opinion?

[Maestro]

BangnaBound, in your situation I would ask local HR in writing to give me their decision in writing, and then I would write to head office.

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Maestro