How Angelina Jolie asked Brad Pitt to adopt her children

**MaryJane** · January 11th, 2006, 07:49 AM

Angelina Jolie has officially petitioned for boyfriend Brad Pitt to become the legal father of her adopted children Zahara and Maddox by taking out four small ads in a local Los Angeles paper.

The actress placed classified ads between 9 and 30 of December (05) in Los Angeles newspaper the Daily Commerce, on behalf of her kids.

The ads, called 'Order to Show Cause for Change of Name,' are part of her court petition to legally change the names of the children Maddox and Zahara Jolie-Pitt.

handbag.com

**muchlove** · January 11th, 2006, 08:03 AM

Yeah, I believe they're legally required to do that. They do it with other things like divorces too, I think.

**VelcroJumper** · January 11th, 2006, 10:40 AM

Yeah, my mom had to do that when she divorced my dad. I'd like to see the ads, though.

**SVZ** · January 11th, 2006, 10:41 AM

why would you have to do that?

**Tiara** · January 11th, 2006, 10:43 AM

Because she's a celebrity, they always after over do things.

**muchlove** · January 11th, 2006, 10:59 AM

It's a legal thing, I can't remember why... it's not a celebrity thing at all. I've seen the ads lots of times... they're just little announcements buried in the classifieds.

**moocow** · January 11th, 2006, 11:14 AM

It's a legal thing to get a name changed. Granted it varies state by state, but basically, if you only have one parent who is trying to get the name changed, and you don't have a document from a second parent authorizing the name change or giving up parental decisions like that, you have to take extra steps.

This includes placing ads in newspaper(s) located in areas that the other parent might reasonably be expected to spot them, in order to give the other parent every opportunity to find out about the name change and to come forward and voice objections.

Even though everyone knows how Angelina adopted the children, legally it has no bearing. She's not advertising out of being over the top, but rather to try to go through the process. It can actually prolong it, since they may have to wait 30 days to allow claims to be made.

My daughter wants to change her last name, but my ex-husband did not sign over parental rights. As a result, we'd have to either officially serve him (process server) with notice, which we didn't want to do, or place ads in newspapers where he lived.

Instead, we're waiting until she turns 18 to both avoid the hassle, and to prevent him from even trying to have a say.

**Tiara** · January 11th, 2006, 11:17 AM

Oh, I didn't realise. Having never wanted another man to become the legal father of my adopted children I wouldn't know! I just assumed it was celebrities up to their usual attention seeking tricks.

**moocow** · January 11th, 2006, 11:28 AM

You know, talking about fathers and names, I read somewhere that (at least it used to be this way) in England, a woman couldn't put a man's name on the birth certificate without his permission. No knocking England or anything, it's just that it reminded me of that when I saw you were from there.

An old friend of mine had two children by two different fathers by the time she was 20. She never put the fathers' names on the certificates because they weren't in the picture. She ended up getting married to someone who years later wanted to adopt the kids, so she just added his name to the certificates for $10 each after finding out how much expense and time it would take to have him officially adopt. I don't think she changed their last names, but at that point, it would have been a simple matter to change it, since his name was added.

My daughter just hates her last name and doesn't want to be associated with her biological father, so she wants to change it. I told her to pick something meaningful to her, that she wouldn't mind having the rest of her life. It took her about 3 years to find one she wanted

**sweetrebel** · January 11th, 2006, 11:38 AM

^^Just out of curiosity, what did she choose?

**moocow** · January 11th, 2006, 12:04 PM

It's a family name. Old and German. I don't want to mention it because it's fairly uncommon. I know, it sounds paranoid, but I've learned my lesson by searching google on my own name just how many places it can uncover where I've been!

**Rogue** · January 12th, 2006, 11:57 AM

I did that too moocow. I decided I didn't want my father's name, so told my mother (I was such a darling sixteen year old) that we were changing to her maiden name. My grandparents had three daughters, so there was no one to carry on that name, so I thought it was a nice idea.

We're lucky here in England, you don't have the place the announcements. I spoke to my solicitor, and we simply had to draw up the deed poll and sign it in old and new names. Although it wasn't official official until I was eighteen, as I didn't have the father's permission, we reasoned that by the time he found out, raised an objection, and it got to court, I would be 18 as it was only 18 months away.

You're also right about birth certificates, you either have to have the father present, or can present your marriage certificate if you're married. I don't know if you can change your birth certificate though, as I still have my birth name on mine, and have to also present my deed poll certificate.

**moocow** · January 12th, 2006, 12:27 PM

I changed my name back to my maiden name the day the divorce was final. The mediator tried to talk me out of it, saying that it's so much easier to have the same last name, that her daughter's a teacher and it makes things complicated. I said nowadays, a lot of kids she knows have different last names than their parents, so it's not a big deal. My ex also tried to say I didn't DESERVE his last name, hahahaha. Whatever.

Anyway, I'm not giving anything away by saying my daughter picked my great-grandmother's maiden name. She thought it sounded really cool, and it gives her a tie to her German heritage.