Court Opinion

ID: 9739736
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:20:14.516373+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:13.680553
License: Public Domain

SNELL, Justice
(dissenting).
This case was never a true chapter 674 case nor was it intended to be. Judge Nahra directed Kirk Edwards to file the petition under chapter 674 in order to correct the false certificate of birth by which Lori named the child. Judge Nahra thought this was the only procedural vehicle available to effect the equitable remedy of correcting the child’s name.
In the dissolution of marriage findings of fact, Judge Nahra stated:
The petitioner testified during this hearing that her name is “Lori Ann Quirk-Edwards.” However, upon review of respondent’s exhibit A, it appears that in the information provided to the hospital staff to complete the certificate of live birth she indicates her name to be “Lori Ann Quirk.” Exhibit A reflects that the certificate of live birth was signed by a “Lori A. Quirk,” wherein she certifies that the personal information provided on the certificate is correct to the best of her knowledge and belief. It is obvious that this document is not correct and does not reflect her proper married name. As a result, the petitioner named the parties’ minor child using her maiden name and not her married name, nor the father’s last name.
Believing that the court in a dissolution action was not the proper forum to correct the child’s name, Judge Nahra said:
Finally, this court must address the issue of respondent’s request to change the name of the minor child of the parties from “Bryce Jerrun Quirk” to “Bryce Jerrun Edwards.” This court does not find any authority under chapter 598 of the Code to order such change. However, given the petitioner’s false certificate of live birth in naming this child, the court directs the respondent to initiate a change of name as provided for by chapter 674 of the Code of Iowa.
Three months and twenty-one days after Judge Nahra’s decision, we held in In re Marriage of Gulsvig that the district court in a dissolution action has jurisdiction to determine the name of a minor child of the parties. In re Marriage of Gulsvig, 498 N.W.2d 725, 728 (Iowa 1993).
Kirk Edwards filed his petition as directed by Judge Nahra under chapter 674. Lori Quirk responded that the petition should be dismissed because she had not consented to a change of the child’s name and she had not abandoned the child as required by chapter 674. Dismissing the petition would, of course, have legally solidified the name for the child unilaterally chosen by Lori, which Judge Nahra sought to have corrected.
Kirk Edwards asked in the petition that his son be named “Bryce Jerrun Edwards.” *884Judge Havercamp reviewed the petition, the response, and the dissolution court’s findings of fact and decree of dissolution of marriage. He then heard both parties personally on their views of what name the child should bear. It is clear from Judge Havercamp’s decree of name change that he viewed the proceeding under chapter 674 as merely a procedural method to effect the decision already made by Judge Nahra that the child’s name should be Bryce Jerrun Edwards. The court quoted Judge Nahra’s statements regarding Lori Quirk’s false certificate of live birth in naming the child and Judge Nahra’s direction to initiate a change of name proceeding. Judge Havercamp then stated:
The court finds that the petitioner is entitled to the proposed name change for his son and that the petition has been on file at least thirty days_ It is therefore ordered, adjudged and decreed that the child’s name shall now be Bryce Jer-run Edwards.
This case was not considered by either Judge Nahra nor Judge Havercamp as a true chapter 674 case. It was not tried as a chapter 674 case and the court made no findings at all concerning the statutory requirements to change a name under chapter 674. There are no findings that Lori Quirk abandoned the child or failed to support it, because those matters had no relevance to what Judge Havercamp was considering. Kirk Edwards made no allegations on these matters and offered no proof because these were not issues bearing in any way on the carrying out of Judge Nahra’s decision to correct the child's name. The argument made on appeal by Lori that the statutory requirements of chapter 674 were not met completely ignores the reality of what Judge Nahra and Judge Havercamp were seeking to provide — a fair and legal forum for determining the child’s name.
In Gulsvig, we decreed that a father and mother are entitled to equal treatment in choosing a name for their child. Gulsvig, 498 N.W.2d at 729. We also concluded that “the mother does not have the absolute right to name the child because of custody due to birth.” Id. In the case at bar, Lori prevented the hospital from telling her husband she was at the hospital to give birth, even though he repeatedly sought this information in order to be present at the birth. Two days passed before he was told of his son’s birth and that Lori had named, the child.
I recognize that a child’s mother has a right equal to that of its father to choose its name. But the name should be determined by deciding what name would be in the child’s best interests to have. In making that judgment, the choice should be limited to one of the surnames used by the parents during their relationship, see Gulsvig, 498 N.W.2d at 730 (Harris, J. dissenting), and the relationship of the noncustodial parent to the child should be given “significant consideration.” See Gulsvig, 498 N.W.2d at 733 (Snell, J. dissenting).
Lori spurns all of these principles and seeks instead to name the child herself to the total exclusion of the child’s father and his rights. I believe that her acts insult the dignity of man (the human race of men and women). See Gulsvig, 498 N.W.2d at 733 (Snell, J. dissenting).
This case, like Gulsvig, is not a change of name case; it is name case ab initio. The child was not legally named on the birth certificate; thus, there are no circumstances for the district court to even consider as changed. I would remand this case with directions to hear the matter anew by a petition to modify the dissolution court’s decree by determining the child’s name in his best interests.