Mom Wants to Change Childs Last Name to New Husbands

In today's worlds the word divorce is common for a lot of us, and when divorce happens with kids involved things can't get uncomfortable for everyone involved.

Anytime Jess and I (CJ) can use the Wakin' Up with CJ and Jess Show to try and help out a fellow Wolf listener, we jump at the opportunity. We got an email this week from a mom who was looking for some advice in a situation she's dealing with.

Alex wrote us, "I'm divorced and have a 4-year-old child. I got divorced from my ex-husband about three years ago and since then I've remarried. Now I would like my son to take my current husband's last name. It's because my new husband is more of a dad to my son than my ex is. My ex-husband lives out of state and has only seen our son a few times in the past two years. I have full custody and I think I have the right to change his last name. When I brought this up to my ex, he flipped out and started screaming that my son is still his and should keep his last name. What do you guys think?".

WOW! Lot to unpack here. First let me say that this hits really close to home for me. When I was about 8 or 9 years old, I was in a similar situation. Growing up I had no relationship with my birth father, but did have one with my moms new husband and after a few years they asked me if I would like to have my last name changed to his. I said I did because he was my dad and that was that. I still have his last name today!

I think the best advice we got from the show today was from a ton of fans that all said the same thing. Alex should probably wait until her son is older. Focus on raising a great kid and the name thing can be revisited down the road.

If you 've every been through anything like this and have some advice for Alex, call or text us through the Wolf app.