Changing your name when you remarry

Can I change my name when I remarry?#

Yes. HM Passport Office's guidance says there is no legal basis in the UK for a name to change because of a marriage or civil partnership, so a second marriage, like the first, leaves the choice to you. You can keep the name you use now, take your new spouse's surname or part of it, or make a double-barrelled surname from your surname and theirs. GOV.UK says you need no deed poll to take a spouse's or civil partner's surname: the certificate is the evidence. If you will keep an earlier surname at work, maiden name at work, married name elsewhere explains how the two sit on your records.

Do I have to go back to my maiden name first?#

No. You give notice in the name you use now, with proof of any change of name, whether that name is your birth name, one from an earlier marriage or one you took by deed poll. HM Passport Office accepts the new certificate as evidence of the change if it shows the link between your previous name and your new one, and that previous name can be a married name from before.

Going back first only makes sense if you want your maiden name in the new surname, such as your maiden name double-barrelled with your new spouse's, because the certificate can only join names it shows (see below).

What do I take when I give notice?#

GOV.UK's list for giving notice in England and Wales asks everyone for proof of their home address, a valid passport or UK birth certificate, details of the venue and proof of any name changes, such as a deed poll. Someone who has been married or in a civil partnership before also brings one of:

• the decree absolute or final order that ended it; or
• the former partner's death certificate.

A divorce, annulment or dissolution granted outside the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man has to be checked, for £55 by the local register office or £83 if the General Register Office checks it. Bring originals. If your first marriage certificate went to the court with the divorce, HM Passport Office notes it is returned only if you ask; an official copy from the General Register Office costs £12.50.

Which documents link my names?#

HM Passport Office asks for evidence of each change of name, linking back to the name on your last passport, or to your birth or adoption certificate on a first application. Where you do not have every document, it asks for a statutory declaration covering all the names you have used.

A double-barrelled name is accepted on the certificate alone only when the certificate shows how it was made: both surnames, joined with a space or a hyphen, spelt as before. A merged single word needs a deed poll, as it does after a first marriage (combined surnames).

Going back to a maiden name in between#

If the first marriage ended and you have not yet remarried, GOV.UK says you may be able to return to your original surname by showing the marriage certificate with the decree absolute or final order, though some organisations want a deed poll. For a passport GOV.UK asks for your birth certificate, a signed statement that you have gone back to your previous surname for all purposes, a document showing you use it and the certificate showing both names. Going back to your maiden name after divorce takes that step in full.

One route catches people out later. HM Passport Office treats a return to a name that is not your birth name, such as the surname from a first marriage after a second one ends, as a new change of name, needing evidence of the change and of use. That is where a deed poll comes in (changing your name back).

If you were widowed#

The death certificate takes the place of the divorce papers when you give notice, and the rest is the same: the new certificate carries you from your current name to your new spouse's surname. If you ever enrol a deed poll, GOV.UK lists the death certificate, or the decree absolute or final order, among the documents to send. Changing your name when you are widowed covers the name you keep in the meantime.

Children from an earlier marriage#

Their surnames do not change with yours. Changing a child's surname needs the agreement of everyone with parental responsibility, usually including the other birth parent, or a court order (changing a stepchild's surname). Nor does your child's birth certificate follow you: GOV.UK's own example of what a correction cannot do is record a parent's new name after they marry again. If you will travel with a child whose surname now differs from yours, travelling with a child who has a different surname explains what to carry.

Your passport, licence, home and other records#

Book travel in the name on the passport you hold, since GOV.UK says the two must match, or apply for a post-dated passport in the new name up to three months before the ceremony. Once the passport is updated, DVLA accepts its 9-digit number as evidence of a name change after marriage instead of the certificate (after marriage, on deedpolls.org). Tell HMRC online or in the HMRC app.

If you own property, HM Land Registry changes the name on the register free of charge on form AP1, with an official copy of the document that changed your name. If the register still shows a name from your first marriage, or your maiden name, send the documents that link it to your new name.

Scotland and Northern Ireland#

Giving notice works differently in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and GOV.UK points to mygov.scot and nidirect for each. National Records of Scotland's change-of-name service, which updates a Scottish birth certificate, cannot be used for a change made because of marriage, divorce or a civil partnership.