Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages Act Amendment Act 1981 (Qld)

449 (l urenslanb ANNO TRICESIMO EEIZABETIAE SECUNDAE REGINAE No. 52 of 1981 An Act to amend the Registration of Births, Deaths andMarriagesAct 1962-1979 in certain particulars [ASSENTED TO 12TH J UNE, 19811

450 Registration of Births, Deaths & Marriages Act Amdt Act 1981, No. 52 BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:- 1. Short title and citation . (1) This Act may be cited as the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages Act Amendment Act 1981. (2) In this Act the Registration of Births,Deaths and MarriagesAct1962-1979 is referred to as the Principal Act. (3) The Principal Act as amended by this Act may be cited as the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages Act1962-1981. 2. Commencement of the Act. (I) Section 1 and this section shall come into operation on the day on which this Act is assented to for and on behalf of Her Majesty. (2) This Act, other than sections I and 2, shall come into operation on a date to be fixed by Proclamation. 3. Amendment of s. 28 . Registration of name after registration of birth . Section 28 of the Principal Act is amended by in subsection (1) after the words " parents of the child " inserting the words " or, where the Director of the Department of Children's Services is, pursuant to the Adoption of Children Act1964-1979 or the Children's ServicesAct1965-1980, the guardian of the child, the Director ". 4. Amendment of s. 28A. Entry of change of surname of child. Section 28A of the Principal Act is amended by- (a) numbering the existing section as subsection (1) and in paragraph (e) thereof omitting the words " where an application under this section is approved,"; (b) adding after subsection (1) the following subsection:- (2) (a) The Registrar-General, upon application in the prescribed form by the mother of a child to whose father she was married at the time of its conception or whom she has since married, which child- (i) has not attained the age of 18 years; and (ii) has not been married, and upon production of evidence satisfactory to him that- (iii) the child is 'known and has, for a continuous period of not less than one year immediately preceding the date of the application, been known by the surname of the mother at the date of the application, which is the surname of the mother's husband by her latest marriage being a marriage subsequent to the termination, by reason of divorce or death, of her marriage to the father of the child; (iv) the child is at the date of the application residing with the mother; and (v) the persons referred to in paragraph (b) and the Director of the Department of Children's Services have consented in accordance with that paragraph,

Registration of Births, Deaths & Marriages Act Amdt Act 1981, No. 52 451 may- (vi) in respect of a birth registered after the commencement of the Registrationof Births,Deaths andMarriages Act AmendmentAct1974 , by a marginal note in the appropriate registration, enter a change of surname of the child to that of the mother at the date of the application; (vii) in respect of a birth registered before the commencement of the Registrationof Births, Deathsand MarriagesAct AmendmentAct1974, by a marginal note in the appropriate registration, enter a memorial of the application and the surname of the mother at the date of the application as the surname of the child. (b) An application referred to in paragraph (a) shall be accompanied by- (i) the consent in writing in the prescribed form to the change of surname in accordance with the application by- (A) where, at the date of the application the child has attained the age of 12 years, the child; (B) the father of the child or, if he is deceased, any guardian of the child; (C) if he is living, the husband of the mother; and (D) the Director of the Department of Children's Services; and (ii) where, at the date of the application, the child has not attained the age of 12 years, an undertaking in writing and in the prescribed form by- (A) the mother of the child; and (B) if he is living, her husband, that, if the application is approved, when, in his or her opinion, the child has attained an appropriate age being before he attains the age of 18 years, he shall be advised of particulars of the change of his surname. The consent of any person under this paragraph, other than that of the Director of the Department of Children's Services, shall be witnessed by a Justice. Any person, other than the Director of the Department of Children's Services, may, within 30 days of giving consent to the change of surname of a child, by notice in writing witnessed by a Justice and delivered to the Director, revoke that consent, but may not otherwise revoke that consent. (c) The Director of the Department of Children's Services shall not give his consent to the change of surname of a child under this subsection- (i) until the expiration of 30 days from the date on which any consent required by this subsection, other than the Director's consent, has been given; and

452 Registration of Births, Deaths & Marriages Act Arendt Act 1981, No. 52 (ii) if it appears to the Director that- (A) a consent was not given in accordance with this subsection; (B) a consent was obtained by fraud, duress or other improper means; (C) a consent was revoked at a time when it had not become irrevocable; (D) a form of consent has been altered in a material particular without authority; or (E) a person giving or purporting to give consent was not, on the date of the form of consent, in a fit condition to give the consent and did not understand the nature of the consent; and (iii) unless the Director, after making such investigation as he considers proper,, is satisfied that it is in the best interests of the child that his surname be changed accordingly:".