Cohan v. Cunningham
| Decision Date | 21 September 1984 |
| Citation | 104 A.D.2d 716,480 N.Y.S.2d 656 |
| Parties | In the Matter of the Application of Jere Charles COHAN, Petitioner, v. Patrick J. CUNNINGHAM, Onondaga County Court Judge, and Martha Coughlin, Respondents. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
Jere Charles Cohan, pro se.
Robert Abrams, Atty. Gen., Albany by Lawrence Zimmerman, Syracuse, for respondents.
Before DILLON, P.J., and DOERR, GREEN, MOULE and SCHNEPP, JJ.
Petitioner seeks to vacate an order issued by respondent which granted an application to petitioner's former spouse to change the surname of their son.
Although a father has a recognized interest in having his child bear his surname (see e.g., Matter of Yessner, 61 Misc.2d 174, 304 N.Y.S.2d 901; Matter of Hinrichs v. Beinecke, 41 Misc.2d 422, 246 N.Y.S.2d 25; Steinbach v. Steinbach, Sup., 119 N.Y.S.2d 708; cf. Matter of "Shipley", 26 Misc.2d 204, 205 N.Y.S.2d 581), neither parent has a superior right to determine the surname of the child, and the question is always whether the best interests of the child will be served by the proposed change.
Application unanimously denied and petition dismissed without costs.
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Rio v. Rio
...and the question is always whether the best interests of the child will be served by a proposed change (Cohan v. Cunningham, 104 A.D.2d 716, 480 N.Y.S.2d 656 (4th Dep't 1984). 1 Depriving a child of his or her father's surname is normally a far-reaching action, and applications for a change......
-
Keegan v. Gudahl
...Marshall v. Marshall, 230 Miss. 719, 93 So.2d 822 (1987); Overton v. Overton, 207 Mont. 292, 674 P.2d 1089 (1983); Cohan v. Cunningham, 104 A.D.2d 716, 480 N.Y.S.2d 656 (1984). This child was not born out of wedlock. Consider Luedtke v. Koopsma, 303 N.W.2d 112 (S.D.1981), which upholds the ......
-
Hamman v. County Court In and For Jefferson County
...standing to object, but is in a real sense a change in status having significant societal implications."); Cohan v. Cunningham, 104 A.D.2d 716, 716, 480 N.Y.S.2d 656, 657 (1984) ("[A] father has a recognized interest in having his child bear his surname ... [but] neither parent has a superi......
-
In re Kobra, 000521/2012.
...question is always whether the “best interests of the child” will be served by the proposed change ( See Matter of Cohan v. Cunningham, 104 A.D.2d 716, 480 N.Y.S.2d 656 [4th Dept.,1984] denying an application to change a name on the grounds that neither parent has a superior right to determ......