28Application to register change
of child’s name
(1)
The parents of a child may apply to the
Registrar, in a form approved by the Registrar, for registration of a change
of the child’s name if:
(a)
the child’s birth is registered in the
State, or
(b)
the child was born outside Australia, the
child’s birth is not registered in Australia and the child has been
resident in the State for at least 3 consecutive years immediately preceding
the date of the application.
(2)
If the parents of the child are dead, cannot be
found or for some other reason cannot exercise their parental responsibilities
in relation to the child, the application may be made by a person to whom a
court within Australia has allocated:
(a)
parental responsibility for the child,
or
(b)
specific aspects of parental responsibility for
the child so long as the making of the application is not outside the scope of
the aspects allocated.
(2A)
If there is more than one such person referred to
in subsection (2), the application may be made only as a joint application of
those persons.
(3)
An application for registration of a change of a
child’s name may be made by one parent if:
(a)
the applicant is the sole parent named in the
registration of the child’s birth under this Act or any other law
(including a corresponding law), or
(b)
there is no other surviving parent of the child,
or
(c)
a court approves the proposed change of
name.
(4)
The District Court may, on application by a
child’s parent, approve a proposed change of name for the child if
satisfied that the change is in the child’s best
interests.
(5)
If any court (including any court of another
State or the Commonwealth) approves a proposed name for a child, the court may
order the Registrar to register the child’s name in a form specified in
the order.
(6)
In this section:
parental
responsibility, in relation to a child, means all the
duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which, by law, parents have in
relation to their children.
s 28: Am 2007 No 5,
Sch 1 [3] [4]; 2008 No 62, Sch 1.4 [1] [2]; 2009 No 59, Sch 1
[2].