Family Law Keyed to Weisberg
Henne v. Wright
Facts
Plaintiff Debra Henne gave birth to a daughter while still married to Robert Henne but pursuing a divorce. She entered the child’s father as Gary Brinton and provided Brinton as her surname on the birth certificate. Gary Brinton was present and completed a paternity form. Because of her marital status, hospital personnel informed Henne that the child’s surname could not be Brinton. She then filled out another birth certificate entering Henne as the surname and leaving the space provided for father’s name blank. Robert Henne never claimed to be the child’s father and pays no child support. She later went to the Bureau of Vital Statistics in Nebraska with a signed acknowledgement of paternity from Gary Brinton and a letter requesting the child’s name be changed to his surname. The request was denied by defendants. Plaintiff Linda Spidell gave birth to a daughter and requested to give the child the surname McKenzie on her birth certificate. Her request was denied and she entered Spidell as the surname and left blank the space for father’s name. She had surnamed her other children McKenzie simply because she liked the name, and wanted her daughter to be named the same as her siblings. She was unmarried at the time of birth and no judicial determination of paternity has been made, although Ray Duffer testified that she is the daughter’s biological father. Defendants claim the district court erred in holding that a Nebraska Statute requiring that a child have some legally established parental connection to the surname on the birth certificate is unconstitutional.
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