IN RE: NAME CHANGE OF SHEIKERA WILLIAMS vs

• Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida
• Decided: March 23, 2022
• Docket: 21-1749
• Status: Published

Opinion

DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA FOURTH DISTRICT

IN RE: THE NAME CHANGE OF SHEIKERA WILLIAMS

No. 4D21-1749

[March 23, 2022]

Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, Broward County; Frank D. Ledee, Judge; L.T. Case No. FMCE 21- 003371.

Tasha M. Simmonds of Tasha Simmonds, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, for appellant.

No appellee.

KUNTZ, J.

Sheikera Williams appeals the circuit court’s final judgment denying her petition for change of name pursuant to section 68.07, Florida Statutes (2020). We reverse.

According to Williams, the court denied her petition after viewing her criminal background, denying her the opportunity to testify. But there is no transcript of the hearing, so our review is limited to errors on the face of the final judgment. In re Zimmer, 207 So. 3d 1006, 1007 (Fla. 4th DCA 2017) (citing Monacelli v. Gonzalez, 883 So. 2d 361, 362 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004)).

The requirements for a petition for a name change are found in section 68.07. When a court denies a facially sufficient petition for name change, the court must provide the factual basis for doing so. See In re Zimmer, 207 So. 3d at 1007 (citing Barton v. Cir. Ct. of Nineteenth Jud. Cir., 659 So. 2d 1262, 1263 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995)).

Here, the petition facially satisfied the requirements of section 68.07. But the circuit court denied the petition, stating only that the “Petition is Denied. Petitioner shall continue to be hereafter be known [as]” Williams.

The circuit court erred when it denied the petition without setting forth a basis for doing so. See, e.g., In re Zimmer, 207 So. 3d at 1008; Name Change of Wages v. State, 160 So. 3d 100, 102 (Fla. 4th DCA 2015) (“As the petition was facially sufficient, the trial court should not have summarily denied it by concluding that [petitioner’s] purpose was fraudulent.”).

We reverse the circuit court’s order and remand for further proceedings. If the circuit court denies the name change on remand, it must set out a factual basis for doing so.

Reversed and remanded for further proceedings.

CONNER, C.J., and FORST, J., concur.

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Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.