France: changing your surname will soon be easier
AP - Michel Euler
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
Changing your surname more simply is the objective of a bill which arrives, this Wednesday, January 26, in committee at the National Assembly.
This law aims to facilitate the cumbersome and complicated procedures currently in force for a change of surname.
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To change your name, you must have a legitimate reason and this can take years. When one has been a victim of incest, for example, the procedures are more complicated than a change of name connoted or perceived as laughable. Out of 4,000 requests identified in 2020 by the Ministry of Justice, around two thirds were unsuccessful.
The bill, supported by the majority, which the deputies will have to debate aims in particular to simplify the situation of children of separated parents. This will require the consent of both parents. In case of conflict, it will be up to a judge to decide. If the child is over 13 years old, he must also give his consent. Marine Gatineau-Dupré is the founder of the collective
Porte mon nom
, she fights for this new procedure to exist:
"My children do not have the same name as me, I was confronted with several difficult situations, such as going to Nîmes hospital with my son who had a fever of 42, and when I arrived, I had to prove that I was the mother despite the fact that I had my identity document and hers, and obviously my Vitale card".
Administrative hassles that can weigh heavily when you are in this type of health-related emergency.
Situations that also turn out to be “
humiliating”
, especially at school when a mother has to prove that she is indeed the mother of her son.
For this group of parents, it is high time to simplify the procedures related to the change of name
and to "
take into account that now there are different families, blended families, and above all to apply the values of our Republic, the equality-freedom with fundamental principles such as the family name
”.
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France
French politics
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Children's rights