Change last name is today, in France, a real obstacle course: the procedure is particularly long (several months, even several years), and expensive (up to several hundreds, even thousands of euros). And, above all, more than half of the time, it does not succeed: in 2020, out of the 4,293 applications filed, only 44% were accepted. From this week, the National Assembly examines a bill, drafted by the deputy of Hérault Patrick Vignal (LREM), aimed at considerably simplifying the process.
If it is voted, a simple Cerfa, in town hall, will suffice to make the request. It will also be free. And it will no longer be necessary to give details of his intimate life to the administration: everyone will have the possibility, once in their life, without justifying themselves, to change their name, by adopting the name of the mother, of the father, by putting the two together, or by changing their order. A small revolution. Because currently, “it is necessary that the name is ridiculous, pejorative or coarse, famous and carrying a bad reputation, that it avoids the extinction of a last name, or that it avoids supporting the serious consequences of a conviction of an ascendant, explains Patrick Vignal. There are also emotional reasons (abandonment of a child, unrecognized filiation). And in all cases, it is a decision of the Ministry of Justice to which you must justify intimate elements. It is not a right to be changed, it is a right to be asked to change. “
For minors, too
And while today it is only possible for an adult, the change of surname will be, if the law is adopted, open to minors. However, parental consent will be required. And in the event of disagreement, a judge will decide. “The idea is to make life easier for those, adults and children, whose lives are complicated by the name they bear,” continues Patrick Vignal. A child victim of incest bearing the name of his torturer can change his name simply and not after a procedure of several years. A child recognized by his father who then abandoned him can at least add his mother’s name. Mothers raising their children alone will no longer have to prove the maternity of their children bearing the father’s name. “
If this proposal is today on the benches of the National Assembly, it is thanks to the collective Bear my name which campaigns for a simplification of the administrative procedures to change a name. Her spokesperson, Marine Gatineau Dupré, created it because, her children not bearing her name, she found herself “in difficulty”. “On a daily basis, it had become really painful,” she says. When you have to prove that you really are the mother, it is suffering. Convinced that the law had to change, the Héraultaise, municipal councilor in Palavas-les-Flots, opened a Google Form, to collect testimonies. “To my surprise, in one week, I received 2,400! », She assures. “I’ll give you an example, which will no doubt speak to many of your readers: when your ex-boyfriend remarries, his new wife has the same name… as your own children. She can travel, can put the children in the hospital, can pick them up from school… We think it’s the mother. “
But the objective of the bill is not, assures Patrick Vignal, “to jeopardize the management of civil status, which is important in our society. The law is not the door open to permanent desire for change or to impulses. “If it is passed, the law could come into force on July 1,” the time to put everything in place, to train civil status officers “, indicates Patrick Vignal.