Hi. I'm a national from Dominican Rep and married to a swede and i have a que about last name changes. I'd like to take his last name or to hyphenate mine adding his. The thing is that here (D.R.) a married woman takes the husband name after hers followed by 'de', for ex: if Lisa Woo got married to John Doe, according to the dominican laws she'd become Lisa Woo de Doe. I'd like to know if taking his last name would be legal here when i register the change in my cedula or driver's license, or how can i handle having a legal name here and another legal name there. Also about the children names, cuz according to their laws, a children with 2 last names mean their parents aren't married (unlike here).
- Thread starter niki-pooh
- Start date
Last name question
I am not a lawyer, but from what I've heard you can only use your husband's name for social purposes, not for legal purposes. You'll still keep your own surname unless you go thru a legal name change. Something I've heard lawyers say is long, complicated and expensive.
YMMV
YMMV
She means that you can say at a party that you are Niki Johansen. But anything legal must be Niki Perez de Johansen
Your children are Johansen Perez here and just Johansen there, unless you go to the states where they get confused and then they will be Perez, until you straighten them out....
HB
Your children are Johansen Perez here and just Johansen there, unless you go to the states where they get confused and then they will be Perez, until you straighten them out....
HB
oh i see. so then there's basically no problem with the name thing? i can be niki johansen according to the swedish laws and niki perez de johansen according to our laws?
won't this bring me any problems when i register my children here or there?
thx a lot. to me this is confusing and i'm moving to sweden soon.
won't this bring me any problems when i register my children here or there?
thx a lot. to me this is confusing and i'm moving to sweden soon.
A friend of mine married a Dominican lady here in the States. She went back to the DR for a bit and while there had a baby. I know he had to get the marriage certificate notorized by Dominican Consulate since it took place here in the States. But her passport and cedula has only his last name. Their baby also has only his last name. So what did she do exactly, I do not know but it can be done.
My wife and I have not decided yet what to do as far as changing her last name as far as the DR goes. Here she will use my last name and her stateside IDs will show this name. We will decide about her cedula later.
So it can be done. Maybe someday I will figure out how.
Jerry
My wife and I have not decided yet what to do as far as changing her last name as far as the DR goes. Here she will use my last name and her stateside IDs will show this name. We will decide about her cedula later.
So it can be done. Maybe someday I will figure out how.
Jerry
I don't follow you. Are you asking about the situation in the Dominican Rep. or Sweden? Because if it is the latter then we can't help much.
sorry pib. i was telling the tradition about last names in sweden, since an above poster suggested me to find out.
what i'd like to know is if here i won't have any problems with my documents and registering my children if i change my last name and follow the swedish traditions. sorry if i confused u.
what i'd like to know is if here i won't have any problems with my documents and registering my children if i change my last name and follow the swedish traditions. sorry if i confused u.
When I said check in Sweden, I meant check to see if Sweden has any problem having you register children there according to the Swedish custom even though you register them in the DR according to the Dominican custom.
I'm confused about registering children. If you are now in the DR and have children, I assume you have already registered them. They must at least have a birth certificate. If you don't have children yet, but have a child when in Sweden, it seems to me the child will have the name that is consistent with the custom there. And your name on the birth certificate will be consistent with the custom there.
I don't know, but I have trouble believing that all the children born to Dominican parents in the US have anything but the name given them according to US custom, which is similar to that of Sweden.
I'm confused about registering children. If you are now in the DR and have children, I assume you have already registered them. They must at least have a birth certificate. If you don't have children yet, but have a child when in Sweden, it seems to me the child will have the name that is consistent with the custom there. And your name on the birth certificate will be consistent with the custom there.
I don't know, but I have trouble believing that all the children born to Dominican parents in the US have anything but the name given them according to US custom, which is similar to that of Sweden.
oh ok, i misunderstood. ty ken. i'll check out with someone in sweden, cuz my husband is as confused and clueless as i am.
yeah, i'm confused about this too: "I don't know, but I have trouble believing that all the children born to Dominican parents in the US have anything but the name given them according to US custom, which is similar to that of Sweden."
i still don't have children. we plan to have them in a few yrs, once i'm established in sweden, therefore they'll be born there.
i didn't really understand the word "consistent" in ur 2nd paragraph ken. would u explain? ty and sorry.
yeah, i'm confused about this too: "I don't know, but I have trouble believing that all the children born to Dominican parents in the US have anything but the name given them according to US custom, which is similar to that of Sweden."
i still don't have children. we plan to have them in a few yrs, once i'm established in sweden, therefore they'll be born there.
i didn't really understand the word "consistent" in ur 2nd paragraph ken. would u explain? ty and sorry.
I think every country provides its citizens with a way to record the birth of a child according to their national law. This is at least true for Dominicans. For example, let's assume that a Dominican couple visiting New York (Juan Perez y Antonia Gomez de Perez) have a child in New York. The hospital will issue a certification that a child was born to this couple. The couple can go to the Dominican Consulate in New York and declare their child as Juan Antonio Perez Gomez and obtain a Dominican birth certificate. Of course, they can also declare him to the U.S. authorities as Juan Antonio Perez.
I believe, although I am not 100% sure, that this arrangement also works for Americans. An American couple having a child in the Dominican Republic can declare the birth at the American Consulate in accordance to US law. They can also declare the same child to the Dominican authorities following Dominican law.
Declarations of a child of foreign couples in the D.R. can produce some humorous results. I have an American-Dominican client (born in the DR of American parents) whom I'll call John Smith. Since his mother took her husband's last name upon marriage and did not provide the civil registry clerk with her maiden name, my client's legal name in the DR is John Smith Smith.
I believe, although I am not 100% sure, that this arrangement also works for Americans. An American couple having a child in the Dominican Republic can declare the birth at the American Consulate in accordance to US law. They can also declare the same child to the Dominican authorities following Dominican law.
Declarations of a child of foreign couples in the D.R. can produce some humorous results. I have an American-Dominican client (born in the DR of American parents) whom I'll call John Smith. Since his mother took her husband's last name upon marriage and did not provide the civil registry clerk with her maiden name, my client's legal name in the DR is John Smith Smith.
I know of at least a foreign couple in which the wife's cedula uses her maiden name and the "de 'husband's surname". The kids official name in the DR (they were all 3 born here) records the surnames of both parents. This could be the rule or it could be the exception. That I don't know.
Sweden / Germany, there should not be a big difference
I'm german and i have a son here in the D.R.
My son has a german Passport calling him Christopher Sch....
and he has a Dominican Passport Calling him Christopher Sch.... Gomez. When we have been in the german Embassy to get his pasport we just got asked which right of names we want to use for his german pasport....
No problems wherever, if we travel we use the german passport, whith one last name, here he goes as a dominican, and with teo last names.
As i have figured, the authorities here are pretty free with the name question.
If it's about your name it depends were you got married, my wife will take my Last Name in germany next time we're getting there, but here she's still with both names.
Nobody really did bother about that. The thing is, if my wife wants to keep both names in germany i have to take both names, too. That meens next time i'm going to get my Residencia and Cedula extended everybody will just get confused because suddenly i have got two last names....
Have fun figuring out, we figured we just go with both posibilities and we adjust to local habits. Its easier than have the locals adjust to you.
Chris
I'm german and i have a son here in the D.R.
My son has a german Passport calling him Christopher Sch....
and he has a Dominican Passport Calling him Christopher Sch.... Gomez. When we have been in the german Embassy to get his pasport we just got asked which right of names we want to use for his german pasport....
No problems wherever, if we travel we use the german passport, whith one last name, here he goes as a dominican, and with teo last names.
As i have figured, the authorities here are pretty free with the name question.
If it's about your name it depends were you got married, my wife will take my Last Name in germany next time we're getting there, but here she's still with both names.
Nobody really did bother about that. The thing is, if my wife wants to keep both names in germany i have to take both names, too. That meens next time i'm going to get my Residencia and Cedula extended everybody will just get confused because suddenly i have got two last names....
Have fun figuring out, we figured we just go with both posibilities and we adjust to local habits. Its easier than have the locals adjust to you.
Chris