can anyone give me advice on this matter . my Thai lady friend has 2 sons from her first relationship with a thai man. who has gone with the wind and does not support her or his sons.time wise it is over a year now.how can she go about this ?? does she need to contact a Lawyer ? and the fact is that she does not know the whereabouts of her X. from what i can understand she was not married to this asshol_e.sorry she wants to change their names from their fathers to her family name. can this be done ??

If never married to the father, she has sole custody over the children.

She should be able to change the name very easily, just go to the amphur. That is where she has to apply.

Changing their names does not affect their birth certificate. It will always have their original names on them. The name changes will only affect the Tabien Baan & the ID card. Changing the name on their birth certificate can only be done within the first 2 weeks of them originally being registered. So I believe ! So there's no real point in changing it.

Edited June 27, 201115 yr by sinbin

It is the current name that matters from a practical perspective, whatever is the registered name on the birth certificate... who cares. All children aged 7 and above must have an ID card from early July this year (+ 60 days until it becomes punishable not to have one = early September). That card will more and more replace the birth certificate in the future anyway