Cohan v. Cunningham

In the Matter of Jere C. Cohan v. Patrick J. Cunningham, as Onondaga County Court Judge

Cohan v. Cunningham, 104 A.D.2d 716 (1984)

Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York · State Appellate Courts
Decided: September 21, 1984
Citations: 104 A.D.2d 716480 N.Y.S.2d 6561984 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 20132

Cited by 18 1 descriptions by later courts

Opinion of the Court

Text extracted by OCR from a scanned original; check the original for exact wording.

— Application unanimously denied and petition dismissed, without costs. Memorandum: 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 ; Matter of Hinrichs v Beinecke, 41 Misc 2d 422 ; Steinbach v Steinbach, 119 NYS2d 708 ; cf. Matter of “Shipley”, 26 Misc 2d 204 ), neither parent has a superior right to determine the surname of the child, and the question is always whether the best interest of the child will be served by the proposed change.

The petition fails to state a cause of action pursuant to CPLR article 78 and is dismissed. We note that the proper manner to challenge the order complained of is by appeal (see CPLR 7801, subd 1). (Art 78.) Present — Dillon, P. J., Doerr, Green, Moule and Schnepp, JJ.

How later courts describe this case

Explanatory parentheticals written by citing courts — 1 in all; the most informative distinct ones are shown.

(“[A] father has a recognized interest in having his child bear his surname ... [but] neither parent has a superior right to determine the surname of the child.”)

Hamman v. Cnty. Court in & for the Cnty. of Jefferson, 753 P.2d 743 (Colo. 1988)

Cited by 18 cases

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Relies on it most ⓘ

Hamman v. County Court in & for the County of Jefferson753 P.2d 743 (Colo. 1988)
Rappleye v. Rappleye454 N.W.2d 231 (Mich. Ct. App. 1990)
Keegan v. Gudahl525 N.W.2d 695 (S.D. 1994)
Rio v. Rio132 Misc. 2d 316 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1986)
Garling v. Spiering512 N.W.2d 12 (Mich. Ct. App. 1993)
In re Eberhardt83 A.D.3d 116 (2011)

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Citing references are not a citator: they show that a later opinion cites this case, not whether it followed, distinguished, or overruled it. Check negative history before relying on this case.

Authorities cited 3

Depth	Case	Cited by
	In re Shipley, 26 Misc. 2d 204 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1960)	28
	In re Yessner, 61 Misc. 2d 174 (N.Y. City Civ. Ct. 1969)	16
	Hinrichs v. Beinecke, 41 Misc. 2d 422 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1964)	6

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