Ronnie Lyn Christ v. Kery N. Homonai

This appeal involves a dispute over a non-marital child's surname. Father/Appellant filed a petition in the Juvenile Court of Shelby County, seeking to legitimate his son and to give him his surname. Following a bench trial, the juvenile court legitimated the child, and directed that the
child's surname be changed to a hyphenated surname consisting of Mother’s maiden name and Father’s surname. Father/Appellant appeals.¹ We reverse the trial court’s finding concerning the child’s surname and remand for further proceedings consistent with T.C.A. 27-3-128 and this
Opinion.

¹Because juvenile courts are courts of record, T.C.A. § 37-1-159(a) (2005), appeals in proceedings such as this one proceed directly to this court. T.C.A. § 37-1-159(g).