The Constitution of the Russian Federation guarantees absolute equality of rights and freedoms of citizens regardless of gender. The vast majority of cases of surname change are associated with a woman's marriage. But if the right of such a replacement is granted by law to a woman, then constitutional principles guarantee a similar right to a man.
Where to begin
According to the law, the right to change the surname is granted to citizens of the Russian Federation from the age of fourteen, subject to parental consent. There are many reasons for the change: marriage, the dissonance of the previous surname, the foreign origin of the surname and its change to one that is closer to surnames of Slavic origin, etc.
A person wishing to change their surname applies to the registry office at the place of permanent registration with a formalized application. The application for the requirements of the regulations must contain information about all the personal data of the applicant (full name, data on registration at a permanent place of residence, date / place of birth, nationality, citizenship), information on marital status and the presence of minor children, the surname chosen by the applicant for change, and the circumstances that prompted the person to change the surname should also be indicated.
The application for a change of surname must be accompanied by copies of documents on the birth of the applicant and his minor children, on the conclusion / dissolution of marriage.
For the registration and issuance of a document with changed personal data, the state fee is currently one thousand rubles.
Procedure for changing the surname
The Civil Registry Office processes the application within 30 working days. An increase in the period is allowed, but not more than by two calendar months and only if there is a valid reason.
During the period of consideration of the application, the registry office requests from other authorities copies of documents previously issued by them, in which the applicant's previous surname was indicated. In a situation where any documents are lost or contain inaccurate, erroneous information, the change of surname will not be made until the facts of inconsistency are eliminated or the lost documents are restored. For the period of restoration and correction of documents, the course of the period recommended for consideration of the application is temporarily suspended.
If a decision is made to satisfy the application, the person is issued a certificate of name change (the name of the document is the same regardless of what exactly was changed). On the basis of the newly issued document, the changed data on the surname of the person must be entered in all documents where the previous surname was previously indicated. To be replaced are the applicant's birth certificate, marriage certificate or divorce certificate, birth certificates of children (who did not reach the age of 14 at the time of the change of surname by one of the parents). Changing the original surname of the father in children who have reached the age of majority is possible only upon their personal application. When one of the spouses changes the surname, the law does not provide for a direct obligation of the other spouse to accept the changed surname.
Within one month after issuing a certificate of change of surname, a citizen is obliged to apply to the Directorate of the Migration Service to replace the current all-Russian and foreign passports. If you have a driver's license, it must also be replaced without fail.
