Can I keep my married name after divorce?

Do I have to change my name after a divorce?#

No. Citizens Advice's guidance for England says that after a divorce, or on being widowed, you can carry on using your married surname or go back to the name you used before. GOV.UK's passport guidance allows for it too: among the changes that need no new passport it lists divorcing, marrying or forming a civil partnership while keeping your name. HM Passport Office issues passports in the name a person uses for all official purposes, so a passport in your married name stays as it is, and so do your bank account, your driving licence and your other records. There is nothing to sign and nothing to send.

The divorce does not deal with your name either way. GOV.UK's guide to getting a divorce mentions a change of name only once, to ask for proof of any change since the wedding when you apply, and HM Passport Office's guidance notes that divorce documents issued in England and Wales since 1971 do not even show the link between a married name and an earlier one. The final order ends the marriage; the name is left as you use it.

Can my ex make me change my name?#

None of the official routes for an adult's own name involves a former husband, wife or civil partner. GOV.UK says anyone aged 16 or over can make their own deed poll, and HM Passport Office's list for going back to a previous surname is your own certificates, a statement signed by you and proof that you use the name. Keeping your former husband's, wife's or civil partner's surname involves no document at all. Where a former partner does have a say is over your children's surnames, if they hold parental responsibility, as the section below explains.

If a disagreement about names becomes part of a wider dispute, take advice on your own situation: GOV.UK's find a legal adviser service lists family solicitors, and Citizens Advice gives free advice.

Can I go back to my maiden name later?#

Yes, whenever you choose: neither GOV.UK nor HM Passport Office sets a time limit. GOV.UK's documents route is the marriage certificate with the decree absolute, or the civil partnership certificate with the final order, which it says may be enough, though some organisations insist on a deed poll before changing a name back. For a passport it asks for your birth certificate, a statement signed by you that you have gone back to the previous surname "for all purposes", a document showing you use it, and the certificate showing both names.

Keep the divorce papers safe. GOV.UK calls the court's last document a final order, or a decree absolute if the application was issued before 6 April 2022, and says you will need it to remarry or to prove your marital status. Can I change my name back? takes the return step by step, and changing your name after divorce covers the order to tell organisations.

What if I remarry?#

Keeping the name does not complicate a later marriage. When you give notice, GOV.UK asks for your decree absolute or final order and proof of any change of name, which for a married name will usually be the certificate from the marriage in which you took it. HM Passport Office's guidance lists keeping your own name among a marrying customer's choices, and describes that name as your birth surname or your legal surname if you changed it before, so you can marry in the name you use now and keep it afterwards.

If you take your new spouse's surname, the new certificate is the evidence. The passport office asks for evidence of each change, linking back to the name on your last passport, or to your birth certificate on a first application.

Keeping part of a double-barrelled name#

If you double-barrelled when you married, you have three choices:

• Keep all of it. Nothing to do.
• Go back to your own surname alone. If that was your birth surname, the passport route above applies, with no deed poll needed for the passport. If it was not, HM Passport Office treats the return as a new change of name, needing evidence of the change, such as a deed poll, and proof of use.
• Keep only your former partner's half. HM Passport Office's guidance says that someone with a passport in a double-barrelled married surname who wants to use just the married part needs evidence of a change of name, because the certificate cannot be used for that, plus proof that they use the name. A deed poll is that evidence; with us it costs £18.50.

What happens to the children's surnames?#

Nothing, whatever you decide about yours. GOV.UK counts agreeing to any change of a child's name as part of parental responsibility, and says a parent with parental responsibility who does not live with the child must still be included in important decisions about the child's life. So a child's surname changes only if everyone who holds parental responsibility agrees, or a court orders it. Where a child arrangements order says with whom, or when, the child lives, section 13 of the Children Act 1989 adds that no one may cause the child to be known by a new surname without the written consent of everyone with parental responsibility or the court's leave.

If you keep your married name and your children have your former partner's surname, you go on sharing it. If you go back to your own, travelling abroad with a child who has a different surname explains what to carry. Changing a child's name after divorce or separation covers the consent rule, and specific issue orders the court route if you cannot agree.