Court Opinion

ID: 9700503
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 21:33:15.132206+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:09.964033
License: Public Domain

HARRIS, Justice
(dissenting).
I also disagree with division III of the majority opinion, but on a basis different from that advanced in the other dissenting opinion. I have no quarrel with the majority’s disapproval of the outdated rule that accorded fathers virtually absolute power to append their surname to a child, even when the parents’ relationship was transitory.
As the majority concedes, a mother does not have unfettered discretion either. I think the rule should require the parent registering a surname for the child, in the absence of agreement by both parents, to select a surname used by one of the parents during their relationship. Such a rule would control this dispute because only the father’s surname qualifies. Disputes where parents use different surnames would have to be resolved on a case-by-case basis, with a view of protecting each parent’s relationship with the child and the child’s best interests.