My children, 8 and 10, have been living under my new husband’s name for just over 2 years. Their father has known about this. He is now taking me to court because of the change in surname. Yes, he has parental responsibilities, but I haven't changed it legally and the children are registered under his name everywhere. They are just “known as� something different. Now is there any chance I could change their name LEGALLY without his permission as my children are refusing to see their biological dad unless he allows them to live with their new surname?

You can not change the legal names of your children without the consent of their legal father or a court order in an adoption or change of name case. Either court case requires legal papers be served on the natural father at his last known legal residence, giving him the right to answer and, therefore, object or consent. The only times I have seen natural fathers lose is when they move around or away without giving a new address, resulting in them defaulting in the court case and losing the right to object. Your case does not sound like that of a disinterested natural father who will consent or move without furnishing a forwarding address. Your situation is very common in modern America so I am certain the divorce court judge and/or state agency involved because of minor children will have experience and know how best to resolve your problems.

My husband was stopped by a police officer who was parked on the right side of a four-lane highway. When my husband saw the officer, who was walking up to his police car door with what seemed to be radar in hand, he slowed down. Not long after, the police car approached our car from behind with its lights flashing. My husband, who was in the third lane from the right, made his way over to the right shoulder, trying to decide if it was safer to exit the freeway or stop atop an approaching overpass. The officer, apparently, became impatient and drove along side my husband and motioned to him to pull immediately over, which he did. When stopped, the officer approached our car and criticized my husband in an irate tone for not stopping sooner and asked for his license and proof of insurance, which my husband provided. The officer then walked back to his car. There was no discussion about why my husband was stopped. We assumed it was for speeding. When the officer returned, he then told my husband that there was a warrant out for his arrest for a prior ticket, to which my husband, perplexed, replied, "Really? I wasn't aware of that." The officer then responded, without a smile, deadpan, "I'm joking." He then gave my husband the ticket to sign, which he did, and left. After driving off, my husband and I discussed how odd and off-putting the officer's behavior was, and I then looked at the ticket and saw that the officer had not checked off any of the boxes indicating what offense had occurred and neither had he written in what speed my husband had been going. He'd only written in the "notes" box at the bottom of my ticket, "failure to stop." Effectively, other than giving the court date and time (9 p.m., which we also thought was unusual) and the officer's last name, the location of the stop and my husband's signature, the ticket was blank. My question: Is this ticket valid and/or dismissible, given that it doesn't state my husband's offense -- or the reason he was stopped? And how can one be accused of "failure to stop" when the ticket is evidence to the contrary?

Yes, the ticket is invalid and any charge should be dismissed. In view of the unsure situation, you should hire a lawyer to go to court for you. This sounds like something one of the Traffic Ticket clinics can do well because they are experienced in basics which should allow you to prevail easily here--be sure to go in and talk to the lawyers who will assert your defense to be sure they understand the unique nature of your situation and do not lump it in with a large group of tickets to be handled en masse.