Re Larry Feign

HCMP 2466/2023

[2024] HKCFI 270

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

MISCELLANEOUS PROCEEDINGS NO 2466 OF 2023

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D E C I S I O N

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1.This is the applicant’s application by ex parte originating summons for a declaration that he has changed his name.

2.There is no contradictor before the court.

3.The applicant was born in the State of New York. His birth certificate states his name to be “Laurence Jay FEIGN”. He had been living in Hong Kong between 1985 and 2022. He has been the holder of an Identification Card in Hong Kong. The one issued to him in 1988 states as his name “FEIGN, Laurence Jay”. On 25 July 2000, the applicant made a declaration under oath pursuant to the Oaths and Declaration Ordinance. He states inter alia that “[In] signing my name to all deeds, contracts, writings and other documents, I have adopted and used the name Larry Feign”, and that “I confirm that Laurence Jay Feign and Larry Feign are one and the same person and formally adopt the name of Larry Feign in all my present and future dealings.”

4.According to the Certificate of Registered Particulars issued by the Registration of Persons Office of the Immigration Department Hong Kong on 30 October 2003, the applicant’s name and alias lodged on 26 July 1985 with the Registration of Persons Office of the Immigration Department Hong Kong, namely FEIGN, Laurence Jay and FEIGN, Larry respectively, were on 25 September 2003 amended to FEIGN, Larry and FEIGN, Laurence Jay respectively. His current Hong Kong Identification Card (issued in 2019) shows “FEIGN, Larry” to be his name.

5.The applicant is now living in Portugal. He wants to apply for permanent residence there. For that purpose he needs a certified copy of his New York birth certificate issued within the 6 months prior to the date of residence application and properly legalized or apostilled. He has approached the relevant authorities in the State of New York. He was given to understand by his legal advisers and the New York Bureau of Vital Records that that for someone who has changed one’s name, one requires an application to correct birth record, accompanied by proof of legal name change, but that the Bureau will only accept a court order as such proof. I note however that the precise legal mechanism for any change of name in New York has not been made clear fully.

6.I have considered all the evidence before me. I have also considered the authorities cited to me, which include Koo Ming Kown v Re Mr Mok Kong Ting [2018] HKCFI 967 at §15, Convoy Global Holdings Ltd v Kwok Hiu Kwan [2021] HKCA 1594 at §30, and various paragraphs from Zamir & Woolf, The Declaratory Judgment (4^th edn).

7.I am satisfied that the applicant has a real interest in the subject matter of the declaration, which concerns his own change of name and his identity documents, and that he has a real interest in obtaining a declaration from the court concerning his name change. Whilst there is no contradictor before the court, given the previous issue of the Certificate of Registered Particulars, I am prepared in the exercise of my discretion to grant the declaration set out below, which is clearly borne out by that Certificate, but no further.

8.In the circumstances, on the facts of the case, I grant the following declaration, that:

“Upon the application of the Applicant, holder of Hong Kong Identity Card No. … [1], the Applicant’s name and alias lodged on 26 July 1985 with the Registration of Persons Office of the Immigration Department Hong Kong, namely FEIGN, Laurence Jay and FEIGN, Larry respectively, were on 25 September 2003 amended to FEIGN, Larry and FEIGN, Laurence Jay respectively”.

9.I make no order as to costs.

Mr Esther Mak instructed by Deacons, for the Applicant