Let's add this one to the list. A list that, I suspect, consists entirely of itself.
A guy named Andre Pierre Harris wants to change his name, files the appropriate paperwork, publishes the required notice, and shows up for his hearing. No opposition, everything seems fine.
Now, you're thinking that since this is a published opinion, he wants to change his name to "Hitler" or "F**ker" or "Joe Biden Bite Me" or something like that. Nope. Does he want to change his name to something a bit, well, unusual? Yes. At least to a fuddy-duddy like me. He wants to be called ":Minko: Yona-Gvinge: El-BeyⓇ."
Okay. No weirder than X AE A-12. Whatever floats your boat.
Now, from ancillary details in Justice Wiley's opinion, I get the incredibly strong sense that Mr. Harris (as he is currently known) is, shall we say, a little . . . out there. For one thing, in one of the documents in the trial court, he submitted a declaration that says that he's a “living soul, the Spiritual man made
from the dust with the holy breath of the Creator YHWH (God)" who's a "native born Mu’ur, native to this land." For those of you who don't understand the reference, the whole "native born Mu'ur" thing is a timeworn "sovereign citizen" involving fictional nations and bizarrely untrue historical beliefs that allegedly exempt people from all taxes, laws, etc.
But whatever. Not a basis for denying your name change, in my opinion. If you don't pay your taxes, we have a remedy for that. If you do, great. Either way, you can call yourself (pretty much) what you want.
But here's the thing. The trial court looks it up, and Mr. Allen has an outstanding warrant for his arrest.
Well now. The trial court says that changes things. It refuses to allow the name change until Mr. Allen clears up the warrant. Mr. Allen appeals, saying that no one, anywhere, opposed his application. But the Court of Appeal affirms.
Which, on the merits, seems reasonable to me. A trial court could reasonably decide to not let you change your name so that when a cop pulled you over you could (truthfully) say "I'm not Andre Harris; I'm Minko El-Bey." Gotta fix the warrant thing first, and then, if you want, change away. That's perhaps a burden (though slight IMHO) on your right to call yourself what you want, but even if so, it's fine.
The one thing I'd perhaps discuss a little more than Justice Wiley did here was the trial court's ex parte investigation into Mr. Harris' status. Yes, the trial court was statutorily obligated to make sure that Mr. Harris wasn't on the sex offender registry. But checking for any warrants seems entirely different to me. I'm not at all confident that the trial court's ability to do the former lets 'em do the latter. Despite the fact that Justice Wiley's opinion seems to conflate the two, or at least breezes through it.
That said, with unopposed name changes, on the merits, I'm probably okay with the trial court doing some very limited investigation on its own. Including seeing if there are outstanding warrants. It's one of the very few reasons why I might stop someone from changing their name, and the reality of name change petitions is that almost none of them are opposed, so a little trial court investigation on its own doesn't seem entirely out of line to me.
Mind you, as an old-fashioned guy, I'm still a little weirded out by the whole "add punctuation to your legal name" thing. Here, the colons and the silly "registered mark" thing (which I believe is also a relic of that stupid sovereign citizen thing).
But that's probably my problem, not yours.
Just get that arrest warrant cleared up first.
