Your married name is still yours#
A name taken on marriage does not lapse when a spouse dies. It is your name for as long as you use it, and no organisation needs telling anything about it. GOV.UK's Tell Us Once service reports the death to most government organisations in one go, after the death is registered; it is about the person who has died, and it does not change anything about your own name. If you are keeping your married name, this page has nothing for you to do.
Going back to your maiden name#
Some people return to the name they were born with, straight away or years later. There is no form for it and no time limit. GOV.UK's passport guidance on returning to a previous surname lists what to send with a passport application: your birth certificate, a marriage or civil partnership certificate showing both names, a statement signed by you saying you have gone back to the previous surname "for all purposes", meaning you will not use the married name at all, and a document that shows you are using the name, such as a payslip or a letter from your council. Those are the same documents GOV.UK gives for someone returning to a former name after a divorce, and the passport office treats the two the same way.
Banks and other organisations usually take the same set of papers, but not all of them are used to it, and a widow who is asked for "a deed poll" by a member of staff is not being told anything about the law, only about that organisation's habits. A deed poll recording the change from your married name to your maiden name is one document that every organisation recognises, and for many people it is simpler than carrying three certificates and a signed statement. It costs £18.50 with us and nothing if you write it yourself from GOV.UK's wording.
If you choose to enrol#
Enrolment is optional and makes no difference to whether a deed poll is accepted. If you do enrol, GOV.UK's guidance on enrolling with the court says that if you are divorced or widowed you must also provide either a photocopy of your decree absolute or final order, or your husband's, wife's or partner's death certificate, alongside the usual documents. That is the only place in the process where the death certificate is asked for.
A different name, or a partner you never married#
A deed poll is the route for anything a certificate does not show: a new surname, a first name you have always preferred, or your late partner's surname if you were never married or in a civil partnership, because without a certificate there is no document that links the two names. Everyone aged 16 or over can make one, and the same rules on witnesses apply.
Children#
A child's surname is not affected by a parent's death, and changing it is a separate decision that needs the agreement of everyone who holds parental responsibility for the child. The guide to changing a child's name explains who that is and what happens when someone will not agree.
Telling people, in the right order#
Change the bank first, then your pension provider, HMRC and any benefits, then the passport and driving licence, then everyone else, for the reasons set out in the guide to who to tell. Certified copies of a deed poll, or extra copies of a marriage certificate from the register office, save posting originals to a dozen organisations in turn.
