Title: Spero v. Heath
Citation: N/A
Docket Number: 030495
State: Virginia
Issuer: Virginia Supreme Court
Date: March 5, 2004

Present:  All the Justices 
 
JESSICA WYNN SPERO AND ELLA MADISON SPERO, AN INFANT WHO SUES 
BY JESSICA WYNN SPERO, HER MOTHER AND NEXT FRIEND 
 
v.  Record No. 030495 
OPINION BY 
JUSTICE DONALD W. LEMONS 
DAVID TODD HEATH 
      March 5, 2004 
 
FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF HENRICO COUNTY 
Gary A. Hicks, Judge 
 
 
In this appeal, we consider whether a trial court erred 
in determining that a name change was in the best interest of 
a child, when the child bore the mother's surname and the 
natural father petitioned the court to change the child's 
surname to the father's. 
 
Ella Madison Spero ("Ella"), born October 30, 2001, is 
the daughter of David Todd Heath ("Heath") and Jessica Wynn 
Spero ("Spero").  Heath and Spero were never married and ended 
their relationship in 2001, before Ella's birth.  Also before 
Ella's birth, Spero told Heath that he was not Ella's father.  
Consequently, Ella received the surname "Spero."  A paternity 
test, completed in January 2002, confirmed that Ella was 
Heath's child. 
 
Heath filed a petition to change Ella's surname.  At the 
hearing on the petition, Heath and Spero contradicted one 
another concerning the amount, type, and quality of support 
provided by Heath for Ella's care.  Spero alleged that Heath 
was a drug dealer and was planning to move to Amsterdam, which 
Heath denied.  Heath produced evidence that Spero had been 
convicted of "driving under the influence of alcohol within 
one year" of Ella's birth.  Finally, both Heath's and Spero's 
mothers testified about the effect, as they experienced it, of 
having a different surname than their children. 
 
At the conclusion of the evidence, the trial court found 
"that it is in the best interest of the child that she have 
the last name of the petitioner, David Todd Heath."  Spero 
filed a motion to reconsider.  The trial court heard argument 
on the motion but reaffirmed the prior judgment changing 
Ella's surname to "Heath." The trial court suspended "the 
effect" of the order until resolution of the expected appeal 
to this Court.  Spero appeals the adverse judgment of the 
trial court. 
 
We will consider the evidence in the light most favorable 
to the respondent, Heath, the prevailing party below.  In 
Virginia, Code § 8.01-217 delineates the method for changing 
the name of a minor.  It requires that the person seeking the 
name change "apply . . . to the circuit court of the county or 
city in which the person whose name is to be changed resides."  
It further requires reasonable notice to the parent who does 
not seek the name change and a hearing to determine whether 
the name change is in the best interest of the minor.  Code 
§ 8.01-217. 
 
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The parent petitioning to change the surname of the minor 
bears the burden of proving that the change is in the minor's 
best interest.  See May v. Grandy, 259 Va. 629, 632, 528 
S.E.2d 105, 106 (2000); Rowland v. Shurbutt, 259 Va. 305, 308, 
525 S.E.2d 917, 919 (2000); Beyah v. Shelton, 231 Va. 432, 
434, 344 S.E.2d 909, 911 (1986); Flowers v. Cain, 218 Va. 234, 
237, 237 S.E.2d 111, 113 (1977).  The petitioning parent may 
prove that the name change is in the best interest of the 
minor by showing that: 
1) 
The parent sharing his or her surname with the minor 
has "abandoned the natural ties ordinarily existing 
between parent and child," 
2) 
The parent sharing his or her surname with the minor 
"has engaged in misconduct sufficient to embarrass 
the [minor] in the continued use" of the parent's 
name, 
3) 
The minor "otherwise will suffer substantial 
detriment" by bearing the surname he or she 
currently bears, or 
4) 
The minor "is of sufficient age and discretion to 
make an intelligent choice and . . . desires that 
[his or her] name be changed." 
See, e.g., Flowers, 218 Va. at 236-37, 237 S.E.2d at 113.  A 
"change of name will not be authorized . . . merely to save 
 
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. . . minor inconvenience or embarrassment" to the parent or 
the minor.  Id. at 237, 237 S.E.2d at 113. 
 
Although our previous cases often use gender specific 
terms in enunciating the test for determining whether a name 
change is in the best interest of a child, that language 
should not be read to mean that there is a presumption that a 
child should have the father's surname or that the mother 
always bears the burden of proof for or against a petition for 
name change.  Nothing in the language of the statute suggests 
such a presumption.  Under the statute, a petition for 
changing a child's name must be considered on the particular 
facts of the case before the court.  The burden is upon the 
petitioning party to "prove by satisfactory evidence that the 
change is in the child's best interest."  Rowland, 259 Va. at 
308, 525 S.E.2d at 919; May, 259 Va. at 632, 528 S.E.2d at 
106. 
 
In this case, Heath, the parent petitioning to change 
Ella's surname, did not offer evidence tending to show any of 
the criteria required by Flowers.  Spero's DUI conviction 
within a year of Ella's birth does not rise to the level of 
misconduct sufficient to embarrass the child in the continued 
use of the parent's surname.  The record does not reflect that 
Ella will suffer any form of detriment by continuing to use 
the surname "Spero."  The record does not reflect that Spero 
 
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has failed to care for Ella, nor that she has engaged in 
misconduct sufficient to embarrass Ella in the continued use 
of the surname "Spero."  The testimony of Ella's grandmothers 
fails to rise beyond a catalogue of minor inconveniences and 
embarrassment.  Based on the record before us, Heath has not 
satisfied his burden of proof as the petitioning parent 
because he has not offered sufficient evidence to show that a 
name change is in Ella's best interest. 
 
We hold that the trial court abused its discretion by 
ordering the change in Ella's surname.  Accordingly, we will 
reverse the judgment of the trial court.  The trial court's 
order of December 12, 2002 will be vacated and the petition 
for name change will be dismissed. 
Reversed, vacated, and dismissed.