HW Legal
What Rules Apply to Surnames Upon Marriage? What Changes Can Be Made During Marriage and After Divorce?
How Can Future Spouses Choose Their Surnames?
Choosing a Common Family Surname
Future spouses may choose the surname of either of them as their common (family) surname. In line with the principle of equality between spouses, the common surname may be either the husband's or the wife's surname. However, they cannot choose the surname of a third person.
Any children born to the spouses will also bear the chosen family surname.
If one of the future spouses already has a double surname, the couple may also choose that double surname as their common family surname.
Keeping Separate Surnames
The spouses may also decide to retain their respective surnames.
In that case, they must agree on which surname their common children will bear. All of their common children must bear the same surname; parents cannot choose one surname for some children and a different surname for others.
The choice also applies to any common children born before the marriage.
The spouses may subsequently decide, at any time during the marriage, to adopt a common family surname. If they choose the surname of the spouse whose surname the children have not previously borne, the children's surname automatically changes by operation of law to the newly chosen family surname.
Choosing a Common Surname While Retaining a Previous Surname
A third option is for the spouses to choose the surname of one of them as the common family surname (which will also be borne by their children), while the other spouse retains their original surname as an additional surname.
In such cases, the common family surname is always listed first, followed by the spouse's original surname. The order is prescribed by law and cannot be altered.
Example: The future husband is Jan Pospíšil and the future wife is Alena Pomalá. They choose Pospíšil/Pospíšilová as their common family surname. The wife decides to retain her original surname as an additional surname and will therefore be known as Alena Pospíšilová Pomalá.
Restrictions on Multiple Surnames
Czech law contains certain rules designed to prevent the indefinite accumulation of surnames.
Where the spouse whose surname was not chosen as the common family surname already has an additional surname acquired through a previous marriage, that spouse may retain only the first surname – namely, the surname that served as the common family surname in the previous marriage.
Example: The future husband is Aleš Velký. The future wife is Jana Zelená Nováková, where "Zelená" is the surname she adopted as the common surname in her previous marriage and "Nováková" is her original surname.
The couple chooses the husband's surname, Velký/Velká, as their common family surname. If the wife wishes to retain an additional surname, she may retain only the surname that was the common surname in her previous marriage. She may therefore be known as Jana Velká Zelená.
Similarly, if the spouse whose surname is to become the common family surname already has an additional surname, the other spouse cannot add their own surname to create a triple surname.
Example: The future husband is Aleš Malý. The future wife is Jana Zelená Nováková, where "Zelená" is an additional surname acquired through a previous marriage.
The couple chooses the wife's surname as their common family surname, resulting in Zelená Nováková/Zelený Novák. The husband cannot add his own surname to this double surname and therefore cannot become Aleš Zelený Novák Malý.
However, this restriction applies only to additional surnames acquired through marriage. It does not apply where a person has a double surname from birth.
For example, if a man's birth surname is Novák Blažek and that surname becomes the common family surname upon marriage, the law does not expressly prevent the wife from adding her own surname after it.
When Must the Decision Be Made?
The future spouses must agree on their surname arrangement no later than during the pre-marital administrative procedure before the registry office.
In the case of a civil marriage, the formal declaration concerning surnames is subsequently made during the wedding ceremony itself.
In the case of a religious marriage, for example within the Roman Catholic Church, the declaration is not part of the ceremony. Therefore, the agreement must already be finalised during the pre-marital procedure.
Changes of Surname During Marriage
Where spouses share a common surname, a change of surname may generally be approved if the surname is ridiculous, offensive, or if another serious reason exists.
Such a change requires the consent of both spouses and applies to both spouses as well as to their common children.
If the children are older than fifteen years of age, their consent is also required.
Where the spouses have different surnames, only one spouse's surname may be changed. The spouse whose surname will subsequently become the common surname must also consent to the change.
Female Surnames and Gender-Neutral Forms
Under Czech law, female surnames are generally formed in accordance with Czech grammatical rules.
However, a woman may request that the surname she will use after marriage be recorded in the masculine form.
As of 1 January 2022, the previous restrictions on such requests were abolished. Previously, this option was available only in limited situations, such as for foreign nationals, Czech citizens residing abroad, women whose spouse or registered partner was a foreign national, or women of a nationality other than Czech.
Surnames After Divorce
A spouse who adopted the surname of the other spouse upon marriage may, within six months following the divorce, notify the registry office that they wish to resume using their previous surname.
The same applies where a spouse adopted the other spouse's surname as the common family surname and retained their own surname as an additional surname. In such cases, the spouse may declare that they will continue using only their original surname.
This is a unilateral decision of the divorced spouse. The other former spouse, whose surname served as the common family surname, has no legal means to compel or prevent the change.
The registry office does not issue a decision approving the change; it merely records the notification.