Changing a Child’s Surname After Divorce in Vietnam: Is the Other Parent’s Consent Required?

After a divorce, many mothers want to change their child’s surname from the father’s surname to the mother’s, to make school enrolment, medical care and everyday paperwork simpler. The first and most important question is: does this require the father’s consent, even when the father no longer has direct custody of the child? The short answer is yes. Under the rules in force, changing the surname, middle name or given name of a person under 18 requires the consent of both the father and the mother, shown clearly in the application form; if the child is 9 years old or older, the child’s own consent is also required.

This article deals specifically with changing a child’s surname after divorce: who must consent, whether the custodial mother can decide alone, what happens if the father refuses, what applies if the father is missing or has lost civil act capacity, what the file must contain, and where to submit it under the authority rules in force on 27 October 2026.

What is the legal basis for changing a child’s surname after divorce?

The right to change a surname is set out in the Civil Code 2015 (Law No. 91/2015/QH13). Point a, Clause 1, Article 27 provides that an individual may request a competent state authority to recognise a surname change in the case of “changing the surname of a biological child from the biological father’s surname to the biological mother’s surname or vice versa”. That is the direct basis for changing a child’s surname from the father’s surname to the mother’s after divorce.

Alongside it, Article 26 of the Civil Code 2015 recognises the right to have a surname and given name and sets out how a child’s surname is determined: it is the biological father’s or the biological mother’s surname as agreed by the parents; if there is no agreement, it follows custom; if the biological father has not been identified, the child’s surname is the biological mother’s surname. Where only the given name is changed (not the surname), the basis is Article 28 of the Civil Code 2015, whose Clause 1 lists the cases in which a name change may be requested and whose Clause 2 requires the consent of a person aged 9 or older for a change of that person’s name.

On the civil status side, Clause 1, Article 26 of the Law on Civil Status 2014 (Law No. 60/2014/QH13) defines the scope of civil status change as changing the surname, middle name and given name of an individual in a registered birth record where there are grounds under civil law. Changing a child’s surname after divorce is therefore not decided by the court in the divorce case itself; it is a civil status change registration carried out at the civil status registration authority, on the civil-law grounds described above.

Who must consent to a surname change for a minor?

The decisive condition is in Clause 1, Article 7 of Decree No. 123/2015/ND-CP (dated 15 November 2015, detailing the Law on Civil Status): “The change of the surname, middle name or given name of a person under 18 under Clause 1, Article 26 of the Law on Civil Status must have the consent of the father and mother of that person, shown clearly in the declaration form; for a person aged 9 or older, the consent of that person is also required.”

Applied to the post-divorce situation, the people who must consent are:

• Both the father and the mother of the child, even though only one of them has direct custody after the divorce. Divorce ends the spousal relationship, not the parent-child relationship. The custodial mother does not acquire the right to decide the child’s surname alone by virtue of custody.
• The child himself or herself, if the child is 9 years old or older. Clause 2, Article 27 of the Civil Code 2015 requires the consent of a person aged 9 or older for a surname change; Clause 2, Article 28 imposes the same requirement for a given-name change. For a child under 9, the law does not require the child’s consent, but the consent of both parents is still mandatory.
• The consent of paternal or maternal grandparents, or of the mother’s new husband, is not required. They are not the child’s “father and mother” within Clause 1, Article 7 of Decree No. 123/2015/ND-CP, unless they are the child’s lawful guardian in the special situations discussed below.

Two age thresholds are often confused and should be kept apart. The 7-year threshold in the Law on Marriage and Family 2014 concerns custody: when the court decides who will directly raise the child and the parents cannot agree, the child’s wishes must be considered if the child is 7 years old or older (Clause 2, Article 81). The 9-year threshold is the one that governs surname and name changes: from 9 years old upward, the change cannot be registered without the child’s consent. The two thresholds serve different purposes and do not substitute for each other.

A minor is a person under 18 years old (Clause 1, Article 21 of the Civil Code 2015), and the father and mother are the at-law representatives of their minor child (Clause 1, Article 136 of the Civil Code 2015). Because the child cannot carry out this procedure alone, the law imposes a double consent requirement: the parents consent on the child’s behalf, and a child aged 9 or older consents for himself or herself.

After divorce, does the non-custodial father still have a say over the child’s surname?

Yes. Article 81 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014 (Law No. 52/2014/QH13) provides that after divorce, the former spouses still have the duty to look after, care for, educate and raise their minor children. Article 82 provides that the parent who does not directly raise the child still has the right and duty to visit the child, which no one may obstruct, together with the duty to pay child support and to respect the child’s right to live with the custodial parent. Article 83 provides that the custodial parent and family members may not obstruct the non-custodial parent’s visitation, care, upbringing and education of the child.

Consequently, the fact that the father does not have custody — or even that he performs his support or visitation duties poorly — does not automatically extinguish his right to consent to the child’s surname change. Clause 1, Article 7 of Decree No. 123/2015/ND-CP requires the consent of “the father and mother” without an exception for a non-custodial or non-paying father. The argument “the mother raises the child, so the mother alone decides the child’s surname” has no basis in the current rules.

Conversely, changing the child’s surname does not alter other rights and duties. Clause 3, Article 27 and Clause 3, Article 28 of the Civil Code 2015 both provide that changing an individual’s surname or given name does not change or terminate civil rights and obligations established under the old surname or name. Changing the child’s surname to the mother’s surname does not end the father’s visitation rights, does not erase his support obligation, does not change custody, and does not affect the child’s inheritance rights. Both parents should understand this clearly, so that a surname change is not mistaken for “severing” the father-child relationship.

What if the father refuses to consent?

If the father is alive, has full civil act capacity and refuses to consent, the application file does not meet the conditions and the civil status registration authority has no basis to process it. Current law provides no administrative procedure to replace, override or “obtain court permission to change the surname despite the father’s refusal”. The divorce judgment or decision also does not decide the child’s surname; in a divorce case the court decides the marital relationship, direct custody, support and property, not a change of the child’s surname in the same case.

The practical options, in the order worth considering, are:

1. Negotiate again with the father. Explain the concrete benefit for the child (schooling, medical care, documents consistent with the custodial household) and confirm that the change does not remove his visitation rights, his support duty or his status as the child’s father. Many deadlocks arise only because the father misunderstands a surname change as a loss of fatherhood.
2. Grassroots mediation. Ask the hamlet or residential-group mediation team, or the commune-level People’s Committee, to help mediate the family dispute. If mediation succeeds, both parents sign to show consent in the declaration form and the file can be submitted normally.
3. Do not use the new surname on other documents on your own. Writing the child’s new surname into school, medical or identity records while the birth certificate still bears the old surname creates two inconsistent paper identities, which causes far greater trouble later when the records must be reconciled. Other documents should only be corrected after the birth certificate has been lawfully changed.
4. Wait until the child turns 18. Once the child is an adult, the child himself or herself has the right to request a change of surname or given name under Articles 27 and 28 of the Civil Code 2015, without needing parental consent under Clause 1, Article 7 of Decree No. 123/2015/ND-CP. This is the lawful fallback if the father firmly refuses throughout the child’s minority.

One further distinction matters: if the real problem is that the father abuses visitation or his behaviour harms the child, the remedy is to ask the court to restrict visitation rights under Article 82 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014, or to change the person directly raising the child under Article 84 — not to use a surname change as a punishment. Those are separate procedures and do not replace each other.

What if the father is missing, deceased or has lost civil act capacity?

The “father and mother” consent requirement in Clause 1, Article 7 of Decree No. 123/2015/ND-CP presupposes that both parents are alive and capable of expressing their will. Where one parent can no longer do so, the file cannot contain that parent’s signature of consent; instead, the applicant submits documents proving that parent’s legal status for the registration authority to consider, rather than leaving the consent section blank:

• Father deceased: submit the father’s death certificate or death registration extract.
• Father missing or whereabouts unknown: simply being “out of contact” or “gone for years” is not enough on its own. A court decision declaring the person missing is needed — under Clause 1, Article 68 of the Civil Code 2015, where a person has been missing for 2 consecutive years or more with no reliable information on whether the person is alive or dead, the court may declare that person missing — or a court decision declaring the person dead under Article 71 of the Civil Code 2015 (which includes the case of a person missing for 5 consecutive years or more, or 3 years after a missing-person declaration has taken legal effect with still no reliable information that the person is alive). The application to the court for a missing-person or death declaration is a separate civil procedure, completed before the surname-change file is submitted.
• Father declared by the court to have lost civil act capacity: the father’s position is then expressed through his guardian or at-law representative as determined by the court decision. Because each file differs, the applicant should ask the receiving civil status authority in advance which documents prove the guardian’s status.

The common point is that the registration authority decides on the basis of documentary proof; there is no rule allowing the mother to substitute her own statement that “the father is missing” for a court decision. So if the father is merely far away, living abroad or deliberately refusing contact but is known to be alive, his consent is still required — geographic distance does not waive the consent requirement. Where the father lives far away, the mother should ask the receiving commune-level People’s Committee in advance how the father’s signature of consent should be presented (for example, signing the declaration form with certified signature) to avoid repeated trips.

What must the file contain?

Under Clause 1, Article 28 of the Law on Civil Status 2014, a person requesting a civil status change or correction submits a declaration form in the prescribed format together with relevant documents to the civil status registration authority. Applied to a post-divorce surname change for a child, the file typically includes:

• The civil status change declaration form in the prescribed format, showing clearly the consent of the father and mother and — if the child is 9 years old or older — the consent of the child (Clause 1, Article 7 of Decree No. 123/2015/ND-CP). This is the most important document: without this consent section, the file does not meet the conditions.
• The original of the child’s birth certificate.
• Identity documents of the applicant (citizen identity card or equivalent).
• Documents serving as grounds for the change: the divorce judgment or decision that has taken legal effect (evidencing the post-divorce circumstances) and documents proving that the proposed new surname is the mother’s surname (for example, the mother’s citizen identity card).
• In special cases: the death certificate or death extract, or the court decision declaring the person missing, declaring the person dead, or declaring loss of civil act capacity (if applicable), as analysed above.

Applicants should bring copies of the documents for comparison and ask the one-stop department in advance about the civil status fee applicable locally, since fee levels are set by the provincial People’s Council and may differ between localities.

Where to submit, and how long does it take?

On authority, Article 27 of the Law on Civil Status 2014 provides that the commune-level People’s Committee of the place where the civil status was previously registered, or of the individual’s place of residence, has authority to resolve civil status changes and corrections for a person under 14 years old. The remaining authority previously belonged to the district level. From 1 July 2025, Viet Nam operates a two-tier local administration with no district level, and Decree No. 120/2025/ND-CP transferred district-level civil status registration authority to the commune level. Accordingly, on 27 October 2026, all cases for citizens residing in Viet Nam are submitted to the commune-level People’s Committee — of the place where the birth was previously registered or of the place of residence — through the commune one-stop department, by post, or via the online public service portal.

On time limits, Clause 2, Article 28 of the Law on Civil Status 2014 provides: within 03 working days from receipt of all required documents, if the change or correction is well-founded and consistent with civil law and relevant laws, the justice — civil status officer records it in the civil status book, signs the book together with the applicant, and reports to the Chairperson of the commune-level People’s Committee to issue an extract to the applicant. Where verification is needed, the time limit may be extended by no more than 03 working days. Where the change is not registered at the place of previous registration, the resolving commune-level People’s Committee must notify the People’s Committee of the previous place in writing, enclosing a copy of the civil status extract, for recording in the civil status book (Clause 3, Article 28).

After the change extract is issued, the mother should have the child’s surname corrected on other related documents (school records, health insurance, identity documents when the child reaches the relevant age) so that all documents are consistent with the new birth certificate. As noted, changing the surname does not change or terminate civil rights and obligations established under the old surname (Clause 3, Article 27 of the Civil Code 2015).

Does the mother’s remarriage give her new husband a say over the child’s surname?

No. The mother’s new husband is not the child’s biological father, so he neither falls within the group whose consent is required nor can he substitute for the biological father’s consent under Clause 1, Article 7 of Decree No. 123/2015/ND-CP. The mother’s remarriage does not change the father-child relationship between the child and the biological father, nor does it transfer the right to decide the child’s surname to the new husband.

The only situation creating a new legal relationship is where the new husband adopts the child under the Law on Adoption 2010. In that case, Clause 2, Article 26 of the Law on Civil Status 2014 permits changing the information about the father and mother in a registered birth record after adoption, and changing the adopted child’s surname follows Point b, Clause 1, Article 27 of the Civil Code 2015 (changing an adopted child’s surname from the biological father’s or mother’s surname to the adoptive father’s or mother’s surname at the request of the adoptive parents). That is an adoption procedure, entirely distinct from the post-divorce surname-change procedure described in this article, and it remains subject to the consent conditions of the Law on Adoption.

Legal sources consulted

• Civil Code 2015 (Law No. 91/2015/QH13): Articles 21, 26, 27, 28, 68, 71, 136.
• Law on Marriage and Family 2014 (Law No. 52/2014/QH13): Articles 81, 82, 83, 84.
• Law on Civil Status 2014 (Law No. 60/2014/QH13): Articles 26, 27, 28.
• Decree No. 123/2015/ND-CP (dated 15 November 2015): Article 7.
• Decree No. 120/2025/ND-CP (on allocation of authority of two-tier local administration in the state management fields of the Ministry of Justice, effective from 1 July 2025): civil status registration authority transferred to the commune level.
• Law on Adoption 2010 (cited only for the case where the new husband adopts the child).

Note: this article presents the law in force on 27 October 2026 for reference; for a specific case, ask the commune-level People’s Committee where the file will be submitted, or a lawyer, in advance, as application may vary with the actual circumstances and documents.

Frequently asked questions