S A v R D
[2011] ACTSC 114
•12 July 2011
S A v R D
[2011] ACTSC 114 (12 July 2011)
CHANGE OF NAME – Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1997 – application by mother to change surnames of children from father’s surname to mother’s surname – judicial officer interviewing children in Chambers – application granted.
Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1997, s 19(3)
No. SC 265 of 2011
Judge: Master Harper
Supreme Court of the ACT
Date: 12 July 2011
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE )
) No. SC 265 of 2011
AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY )
BETWEEN:S A
Plaintiff
AND:R D
Defendant
ORDER
Judge: Master Harper
Date: 12 July 2011
Place: Canberra
THE COURT ORDERS THAT:
pursuant to section 19(3) of the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1997, the surnames of the two children of the parties be changed from the surname of the respondent to the surname of the applicant.
the names of the parties be suppressed.
the court file not be available for public access unless by order of a Judge or Master.
This is an application for an order under section 19(3) of the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1997 that the names of two children of the parties be changed. The change sought is that their surnames as presently recorded on their birth certificates, being the surname of the respondent, be changed to the surname of the applicant. The parties are unmarried. Their children are a son aged fifteen and a daughter aged thirteen. The applicant mother seeks the change of surname on the ground that both children use her surname as their preferred name, and use their father’s surname, being the name on their birth certificates, only when required to do so by law, or when not to do so would cause them considerable inconvenience.
The evidence of the applicant is that the children use her surname as their name at school. Her son is in Year 10 and has expressed a wish that his Year 10 certificate be issued in her surname. The parties have lived apart for a number of years and there has been effectively no contact between the children and the respondent, their father, for more than two years.
The respondent appeared before me. Neither party is legally represented. The respondent made it clear to me that he does not wish to oppose the application in the conventional manner, but wishes the court to be satisfied that the change of name is genuinely the wish of the children themselves.
In the circumstances I adopted the somewhat unusual course of interviewing each of the children separately in Chambers. I am satisfied that each child understands the purpose of the application and its effect if granted. Each of the children, I am satisfied, genuinely wants the change to be made.
I explained to each of the children that the respondent, regardless of such an order, will remain their father, and that a time may come in their lives when they wish to renew contact and perhaps to develop a relationship with him.
At the respondent’s request I handed to each of the children, during the course of the interview, a letter from their father, their grandmother and an aunt, and a set of family photographs.
Orders under the section are rarely applied for and rarely granted. Generally the court will grant such an application where children have had no contact with one parent at all for many years and where, typically, that parent can no longer be located, has made no financial contribution to the maintenance of the children and has taken no initiative to maintain any form of contact with them. The present case is a very different one. The father wishes to develop and maintain a relationship with his children. Sadly, for reasons not known to me in detail but which may be justifiable based upon the family history, the children do not want to have any relationship with him, or contact with him.
In the unusual circumstances of this case I have been persuaded that it is in the interests of the children to grant the application.
For these reasons, following interviews with the children in Chambers, I made the order sought, changing their surnames from the surname of the respondent to that of their mother, the applicant.
Whilst there is a public interest in the fact that such an application has been granted and the reasons for granting it, it is clear having regard to the ages of the children that their names should not be made public. If the names of the parties were made public, the children could be easily identified. Accordingly, I order that the names of the parties not be published, and that the court file not be available for public access in the absence of an order by a Judge or Master.
I certify that the preceding ten (10) numbered paragraphs are a true copy of the Reasons for Judgment herein of the Master.
Associate:
Date: 12 July 2011
Plaintiff: In person
Defendant: In person
Date of hearing: 1 July 2011
Date of judgment: 12 July 2011
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