Do you need a deed poll at all?#
Not always. Three documents can prove a change of name in the UK, and which one you need depends on why the name is changing.
- A marriage or civil partnership certificate. GOV.UK says you do not need a deed poll to take your spouse's or civil partner's surname: you send a copy of the certificate to the organisations that hold your records. That includes a double-barrelled surname made from both names.
- Your divorce papers. After a divorce or the end of a civil partnership you may be able to go back to your original name by showing your marriage certificate with the decree absolute, or the civil partnership certificate with the final order. GOV.UK adds that some organisations will not change a name back without a deed poll, so if one refuses, a deed poll settles it.
- A deed poll. For every other change: a new surname you were not born with and did not marry into, a different first name, a middle name added or dropped, a spelling changed, or a return to a former name that an organisation will not accept from the divorce papers alone. A deed poll is, in GOV.UK's words, a legal document that proves a change of name.
If you were born in Scotland, or live there, the rules differ in places. Changing your name in Scotland covers them. The rest of this guide is the England, Wales and Northern Ireland route, which is what most people mean by "changing your name by deed poll".
Step 1: choose the name#
You can change any part of your name, add or remove names or hyphens, or change the spelling. GOV.UK sets three rules for the new name: it must be pronounceable, it must not include symbols, numbers or punctuation (a hyphen in a hyphenated name and an apostrophe in a name such as O'Hara are fine), and it must not be offensive or against the public interest, such as adding "Ltd" to the end.
Two things a deed poll cannot do, again from GOV.UK: it cannot change which letters in your name are capitalised, and it cannot change a title such as Mr, Mrs, Sir, Lady or Doctor. A title is not part of your legal name, so you tell each organisation which one to use.
HM Passport Office applies its own published rules on top of these when it prints a passport, and a name that is refused there is refused whatever the deed says. What you can change your name to goes through the names that are refused, and the ones that get through and cause trouble later.
Step 2: check who has to agree#
If you are 16 or over, nobody. GOV.UK says anyone aged 16 or over can make an unenrolled deed poll and start using the new name. You do not need a reason, none is recorded, and there is no upper age limit.
If the change is for a child under 16, a parent or guardian makes the deed poll on the child's behalf, and everyone who holds parental responsibility for the child must agree. That is not a formality: a child's deed poll made without the agreement of everyone with parental responsibility is not valid, and no provider can draft around it. Where one parent will not agree, the route is an application to the family court for a specific issue order, which GOV.UK says costs £263 on form C100. Changing a child's name explains who holds parental responsibility and what the court weighs.
If you are 16 or 17, you may make your own deed poll. If you are 16 or 17 and married or in a civil partnership, GOV.UK treats you as an adult for enrolment too.
One group has a duty to report the change. A registered sex, violent or terrorist offender must tell the police within 3 days of changing their name, at their prescribed police station, and failing to do so is a criminal offence.
If you are a permanent resident overseas, GOV.UK says you cannot change your name by deed poll. Where you live matters more than where you were born: a British citizen living abroad should read changing your name if you live outside the UK before ordering anything.
Step 3: get the deed poll#
There are three ways, and GOV.UK describes all of them.
Write it yourself. GOV.UK publishes the wording for an unenrolled deed poll: you declare that you have given up your old name and adopted the new one for all purposes, note that you have told the police where that applies, acknowledge that the authorities may check the history of both names, and sign it as a deed in front of two witnesses aged 18 or over. It costs nothing. What you do not get is anyone checking it, a document printed to look like the evidence it is, or anyone to go back to if an organisation questions it.
Have a specialist agency or a solicitor draft it. GOV.UK notes that both may charge a fee. Ours is £18.50, drafted and checked by a paralegal, printed on certificate paper with a signing guide, and posted the same working day. A solicitor will usually charge more, and a solicitor is not needed for the deed to be valid.
Enrol it with the High Court. Enrolment puts your change of name on public record: it costs £53.05, is done on the court's own forms, can take several months, and your new name and your address are published in The Gazette. It is optional, and it does not make a deed poll more likely to be accepted. Enrolled and unenrolled deed polls sets the two side by side.
Whichever you choose, the document is the same in law: a deed, made by you, recording the change.
Step 4: sign it in front of two witnesses#
This is the only step that gives the document any force, and it takes a few minutes. You sign in your old name and in your new name, date the deed with the date you are actually signing, and your witnesses sign and add their names, addresses and occupations.
GOV.UK's wording names two witnesses, who must be 18 or over, and it warns that some organisations will not accept a deed poll if a witness lives at the same address as you or is a close relative. So choose two independent adults: a friend, a neighbour, a colleague. Not your partner, not a relative, and not someone at your address. Both need to be in the room, watching you sign; a signature added later, or over a video call, is not a witnessed signature.
Your name changes on the day you sign. There is no waiting period, nothing to send back and nothing to file. How to sign and witness your deed poll has the order of signatures and the mistakes that get deeds refused.
Step 5: tell the organisations that hold your records#
A deed poll changes your name. It does not tell anyone that it has. The last step is working through the organisations that hold your records, and the order matters, because the two strictest ones each ask for a document that already shows the new name.
- Put the new name in writing somewhere first. HM Passport Office asks for one document showing you already use the new name, such as a bank statement, a payslip or a letter from HMRC or your council. DVLA asks for an original document confirming the new name. So tell your bank, HMRC and your council first: each produces a letter or statement in the new name within a couple of weeks. HMRC takes the change online or in its app.
- Then your passport and driving licence. Both want your original deed poll, not a copy, and both post it back, so they go one at a time. A new passport costs £102 online; changing the name on a driving licence is free, on form D1 from a Post Office, and you can keep driving while you wait. If a vehicle is registered to you, GOV.UK says you must update the V5C log book as well.
- Then everyone else, in any order. Banks and lenders, pension providers, insurers, employers, your GP, utilities, the electoral register. Most keep a certified copy of the deed, or look at the original and hand it back.
- Last, the ones people forget. Your will, subscriptions, loyalty cards, the vet, and the online accounts that will otherwise keep writing to you in the old name.
Two habits save the most trouble. Never post the original deed to an organisation that keeps what it is sent; send a certified copy. And keep a list of who you have told, because a year on, the organisation still using the old name is always one you missed. Who to tell, and in what order is the full list.
How long the whole thing takes#
The deed poll itself is quick. Ours is posted the same working day and Tracked delivery usually arrives within two working days; a deed you write yourself is ready as soon as it is signed. The name is legal from the moment of signing.
The rest is set by other people's queues. GOV.UK says to allow three weeks for a standard passport application, longer if HM Passport Office needs more information, with a one-week Fast Track service that covers a change of name. DVLA gives no fixed time for a licence but says you can carry on driving while you wait. Banks vary from a branch visit to a few weeks by post. In practice most people have every record changed within two months of signing, with the passport as the long pole. How long it all takes puts dates against each stage.
What it costs#
- The deed poll: nothing if you write it yourself from GOV.UK's wording, £18.50 drafted by us, or £53.05 in court fees to enrol one.
- Certified copies, if you want to keep the original at home: ours are £6 for 2 up to £25 for 20.
- A passport in the new name: £102 applying online or £115.50 on a paper form, because a name change means a new passport. Fast Track is £192 for an adult.
- A driving licence and V5C: free.
- Everything else: organisations do not charge to change a name on their records.
How much it costs to change your name adds these up for typical situations.
The mistakes that cost people time#
- Dating the deed in advance, or signing on a different day from the date written. The date on the deed is the date your name changed, and a deed with a false date is the easiest of all to question.
- Using a relative or a housemate as a witness. GOV.UK's warning is specific, and it is exactly the thing a bank clerk checks.
- Posting the original to an organisation that files what it is sent. Send certified copies; only HM Passport Office and DVLA need the original, and they return it.
- Booking travel in the new name before the new passport has arrived. GOV.UK is plain that the name on your passport must match the one on your booking.
- Forgetting the V5C. The driving licence and the log book are two separate applications.
- Treating enrolment as approval. It is a public record, not a stamp of validity, and it publishes your address.
If your situation is not the usual one#
- A child's name: everything turns on parental responsibility. Start at changing a child's name.
- Scotland: a deed poll works for people born or living in Scotland, and National Records of Scotland can also record the change against a Scottish birth entry for £40. Changing your name in Scotland.
- Living abroad: changing your name if you live outside the UK.
- A lost deed poll: your name did not change back. I have lost my deed poll.
- Using the deed abroad: other countries may ask for a notarised copy or an apostille. Using a UK deed poll abroad.
