Dad loses legal battle over child's double-barrelled surname

A Victorian father has lost a legal battle to prevent his child from having a hyphenated combination of his parents’ surnames, with authorities ruling in favour of double-barrelled last names.

The child was born in 2015, but the parents’ inability to agree on the surname resulted in the Victorian Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages last year assigning a surname using both parents’ surnames hyphenated in alphabetical order, with the mother’s first and father’s second.

The father took the case to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, which last week upheld the original decision and found the policy of using both names in alphabetical order “reasonable and appropriate”.

VCAT senior member Anna Dea said the registry had made a decision in line with policy which seeks to recognise and maintain family connections.

The parents, who are no longer in a relationship, have other children from previous relationships.

The mother said she wanted this child to have a hyphenated surname to link them with the rest of the family.

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The father said he and the mother had agreed the child would have the father’s surname and use the mother’s surname as a second name.

In upholding the registry’s decision, Ms Dea said it was the best interests of the child to have both surnames to recognise the child’s connections to their half-siblings.

She also said a hyphenated surname would avoid perceptions of bias towards any parent given neither parent has custody of the child.

“In circumstances where at present both parents have limited contact with the child, having one name as a second name and the other as a surname would seem to preference one parent over the child without any proper basis to do so.”

– with AAP

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