Question

Scenario 1:

Mark and Jane recently got married. Mark was born out of wedlock and carried his mother's surname, Santos. Jane, on the other hand, has always used her father's surname, Ramirez. As per their wedding ceremony, they both agreed to use a different surname. However, their local civil registrar refused to allow them to change their surnames and insisted that they must retain their respective surnames as stated in their birth certificates.

Scenario 2:

Mr. Reyes and Mrs. Garcia were married in 1995. During the marriage, they decided to use the compound surname "Reyes-Garcia." However, upon the death of Mr. Reyes in 2021, Mrs. Reyes-Garcia decided to revert to her maiden name "Garcia." She filed a petition with the local civil registry to change her name, but the registrar denied the request, stating that she can only use the compound surname during the marriage and cannot revert to her maiden name after the death of her spouse.

Scenario 3:

John and Mary have been living together as an unmarried couple for several years. They have a child named David. Mary, being the mother, registered David using her own surname, Johnson. After some time, John and Mary decided to get married and change David's surname to "Smith," which is John's surname. However, the local civil registrar informed them that changing David's surname requires a court order since he was registered under Mary's surname.