Changing your surname.

[TheTurbonator]

I've decided to change my name but I'm after a bit of advice of how I go about doing it and costs. I've decided to change it for family reasons, so don't worry I'm not doing it for fraudulent reasons.

From my own research, from the Citizens Advice Bureau's website http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/relationship... it states that you can immediately change your name and start calling yourself your new name without any paperwork (Deed Poll). The website isn't very thorough but from the sounds of it in most cases this is sufficient for most things. However it doesn't say what the limitations are for doing it without no formal paperwork that states a change of name. I mean, can I change the name on my Driver's licence and bank accounts without a Deed Poll?

I do need the name on my Passport changing though, so I will eventually have to change it through a Deed Poll. There seems to be many websites offering the service, so I was wondering if anyone could give me a hint in the direction of the right one and the official one. I found this one which does like the official one but was hoping someone could confirm whether it is or not: http://www.ukdps.co.uk/

Also I have two children whose surnames will also have to be changed.

Thanks in advance.

[R0G]

Late 80s wife changed hers and it was a minute cost but she did it via a solicitor - took 3 days

[AndrewEH1]

Check this link https://www.gov.uk/change-name-deed-poll

I think you need to go through a solicitor or an agency, like the one you linked.

[chriscpritchard]

TheTurbonator said:

I've decided to change my name but I'm after a bit of advice of how I go about doing it and costs. I've decided to change it for family reasons, so don't worry I'm not doing it for fraudulent reasons.

From my own research, from the Citizens Advice Bureau's website http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/relationship... it states that you can immediately change your name and start calling yourself your new name without any paperwork (Deed Poll). The website isn't very thorough but from the sounds of it in most cases this is sufficient for most things. However it doesn't say what the limitations are for doing it without no formal paperwork that states a change of name. I mean, can I change the name on my Driver's licence and bank accounts without a Deed Poll?

I do need the name on my Passport changing though, so I will eventually have to change it through a Deed Poll. There seems to be many websites offering the service, so I was wondering if anyone could give me a hint in the direction of the right one and the official one. I found this one which does like the official one but was hoping someone could confirm whether it is or not: http://www.ukdps.co.uk/

Also I have two children whose surnames will also have to be changed.

Thanks in advance.

There is no such thing as an "official" deed poll, it is a document, signed by yourself and two independent witnesses that states your intention to change your name. There exists relatively simple wording to do it - this guy's website explains how he did it without paying (except for a new passport in his name), for children the wording is different, but can be found here, but you do not have to pay to enroll it or do a statutory declaration, as that is not a requirement.

[98elise]

R0G said:

Late 80s wife changed hers and it was a minute cost but she did it via a solicitor - took 3 days

Same here, stautory declaration and a letter from the solicitor. Name changed on all official documents just fine.

Cost about £25....probably about £50-100 in todays money.

[TheTurbonator]

Thanks for all the help. I do fancy doing it myself after reading that website but it seems some companies/organisations can get a little funny and not accept Micky Mouse/DIY looking examples. There are plenty of websites offering to send you a Deed Poll for peanuts (£7) but it seems you get what you pay for, as cheaper examples are less likely to be accepted.

For the sake of £50-£100, I might as well just do it properly and get a Solicitor to do it.

ETA: Is a statutory declaration from a Solicitor sufficient enough for a change of name on a Passport? The Citizens Advice website seems to be worded in a way that hints the only means sufficient for passport documents is a Deed Poll.

Edited by TheTurbonator on Thursday 2nd August 12:57

[chriscpritchard]

TheTurbonator said:

Thanks for all the help. I do fancy doing it myself after reading that website but it seems some companies/organisations can get a little funny and not accept Micky Mouse/DIY looking examples.

Get some posh paper and print it off on that, it'll look better than 95% of the soliciters ones, if you use the wording in the deed poll guide from the high court (and add “Notwithstanding the decision of Mr Justice Vaisey in Re: Parrott, Cox v Parrott, the applicant desires the enrolment to proceed”), then it'll be fine.

[GCH]

I used http://deedpoll.org.uk/

I originally considered doing it with my own home made declaration as you do not need to pay anyone anything to do it legally, but I decided to use the above company as it just looks a little more formal and professional with the embossed seal on it, but from my research, I believe that a decent solicitors letter on nice paper would do the same job

Edited by GCH on Monday 22 August 18:27

[Gareth79]

Using an "agency" is a bit of a waste of money, people have no problems with home-printed versions, these sites generate the text for you too:

http://freedeedpoll.org.uk/
http://freedeedpoll.co.uk/

As long as the wording is correct and it is witnessed correctly, and organisation doesn't really have any grounds to reject it, the paper it is printed on is irrelevant!

[TheTurbonator]

Gareth79 said:

Using an "agency" is a bit of a waste of money, people have no problems with home-printed versions, these sites generate the text for you too:

http://freedeedpoll.org.uk/
http://freedeedpoll.co.uk/

As long as the wording is correct and it is witnessed correctly, and organisation doesn't really have any grounds to reject it, the paper it is printed on is irrelevant!

Can I use those forms for my 2 children too?

[chriscpritchard]

TheTurbonator said:

Can I use those forms for my 2 children too?

As mentioned above the wording is slightly different, make one using word with the wording of the childs one as different people need to sign it!

[TheTurbonator]

chriscpritchard said:

TheTurbonator said:

Can I use those forms for my 2 children too?

As mentioned above the wording is slightly different, make one using word with the wording of the childs one as different people need to sign it!

Many thanks. Realised you had posted a downloadable link for the childs version, after I asked that question.

[XCP]

Don't forget to change the name tapes on your vests

[Pontoneer]

Deed polls are not required under Scots Law .

Since we use the same passports and DVLA as you south of the border they can't require one to register a change of name . Same will apply for banks etc .

[chriscpritchard]

Pontoneer said:

Deed polls are not required under Scots Law .

Since we use the same passports and DVLA as you south of the border they can't require one to register a change of name . Same will apply for banks etc .

Deed polls aren't required under english law either, it's just useful to have them

[Derek Smith]

You can call yourself what you want within very wide limites. Julian Clary was stopped from calling himsel The Joan Collins Fan Club by someone with a lack of sense of humour.

My mother's maiden name was Cockshott, pronounced Co'shaw, but not by many people. My grandmother was for some reason pround of it and her sons carried the name whilst she was alive. As soon as she died one uncle changed his name to Claydon and the other one changed it to Barnet. This was very confusing for me as I came from a big family (8 kids on my mother's side and 18 on my father's) and the only way of keeping check was by surnames.

They changed it without ceremony. Just told everyone one day, told their banks and local authority and that was it.

[All that jazz]

Thought I'd dig up an old topic rather than start a new one.

Question on behalf of someone else : when you inform the DVLA you've changed your name and they issue you with a new photocard, do you keep your original 16 character driver number or do you get issued with a fresh one? As you may know, the first 5 characters are taken from your surname so if your surname was Smith and you changed it to Jones would it have a JONES123456AB1CD number or would you keep your old SMITHxxx one?

Anyone changed their name here?

[Dave Hedgehog]

All that jazz said:

Thought I'd dig up an old topic rather than start a new one.

Question on behalf of someone else : when you inform the DVLA you've changed your name and they issue you with a new photocard, do you keep your original 16 character driver number or do you get issued with a fresh one? As you may know, the first 5 characters are taken from your surname so if your surname was Smith and you changed it to Jones would it have a JONES123456AB1CD number or would you keep your old SMITHxxx one?

Anyone changed their name here?

I got a new number starting with my new name

and just a reminder you DO NOT need to pay any company to change your name, it's free to do. MSE has a guide

Edited by Dave Hedgehog on Monday 22 August 14:12

[All that jazz]

Dave Hedgehog said:

I got a new number starting with my name

Thanks Dave, that's all I wanted to know.

[Jobbo]

Dave Hedgehog said:

I got a new number starting with my new name

Changing your username on here doesn't count

What were you running away from, Eric?