Changing your name by deed poll

What a deed poll is, and what it is not

In England and Wales you can call yourself whatever you like, provided you are not doing it to deceive anybody. The difficulty is never the name; it is proving to a bank, an employer or a government department that the person on the old records and the person standing in front of them are the same.

A deed poll is what solves that. It is a signed, witnessed document in which you give up your former name, adopt your new one, and undertake to use the new name at all times. It is the evidence that links the two.

It does not, by itself, change anything on anybody's database. Every organisation still has to be told, and each applies its own identity checks. It also does not change your birth certificate, which is a record of the facts at the time of your birth and stays as it is.

Unenrolled and enrolled

Most deeds are unenrolled, which simply means the document exists and has not been placed on any public register. That is the ordinary route, and an unenrolled deed poll is accepted by DVLA and HM Passport Office as evidence of a change of name.

Enrolling a deed means entering it on public record at the Royal Courts of Justice, where it is also advertised in the London Gazette. There is a fee, the court sets its own requirements, and the change becomes permanently searchable by anybody.

Enrolment is not usually required for an adult changing their own name, though a few organisations still ask for it. If you know you are dealing with one of them, it is worth finding out before you start rather than afterwards.

Signing it: one witness, not two

This is the point most often got wrong. A Will needs two witnesses. A deed poll needs one — a single witness, aged 18 or over, who is not a relative.

The witness has to be physically present and has to watch you sign. You sign twice: once in your former name and once in your new one. Your witness then signs, at the same sitting, having seen both signatures written.

For the strongest evidence, choose an independent adult who does not live at your address and is not otherwise involved in the change. A neighbour, a colleague or a friend is ideal; a spouse or an adult child is not.

If you need several original copies — and you often will, because organisations ask for originals rather than photocopies — sign a set of identical deeds in one sitting, with the same witness on the same date. A photocopy of a signature is not an original deed.

What DVLA asks for

You are required to tell DVLA when you change your name, and your driving licence has to be updated to match.

DVLA asks for a completed application, your current photocard licence, and the original deed — not a copy. The documents you send are returned to you, which is one reason people sign more than one original at the outset.

It is worth doing the licence early. An updated driving licence is one of the documents other organisations most readily accept as showing the new name in use, so it makes everything that follows easier.

What HM Passport Office asks for

A passport in the new name means a new passport application, with the usual fee, and your existing passport is cancelled when the new one is issued.

HM Passport Office will want the deed, and it will ordinarily also want to see documents showing the new name actually in use — a driving licence, a bank statement, a payslip. The deed on its own establishes the link between the names; the supporting documents show the change is real and settled.

Do not book travel in the new name until the new passport is in your hand. The name on a booking has to match the passport being travelled on, and airlines are unforgiving about it.

Who can use one, and who cannot

A deed poll of this kind is for an adult, or anybody aged 16 or over, changing their own name.

Changing a child's name is a different matter, because it needs the agreement of everybody with parental responsibility. If that is what you need, speak to us rather than starting the online questionnaire.

A name change cannot be used to avoid a debt or another obligation, to escape criminal proceedings, or to mislead anybody. And it changes nothing about who you are for those purposes — your history, your credit file and your obligations follow you to the new name.

Once the deed is signed, tell people in a sensible order: bank, employer, HMRC, your GP and any other medical records, then DVLA and the passport. Each will have its own process, and having a couple of original deeds saves a great deal of waiting.