I'm a programmer not a lawyer - if I was, I'd've charged you £50 for reading this far.
- Intend to DIY?
- If you own a house, be aware that the most difficult 'authority' to prove a name change to is the Land Registry. They have strict precautions to stop people stealing title to property, and consequently if you want to register a change of name for free, you'll have to make a journey, in person, with various supporting documents in your old name, to one of their offices. It won't necessarily be the nearest either - it's 100 miles away in my case. The alternative is to pay a conveyancer to handle this paperwork for you, which is likely to cost £100 at least.
- The best example wording I found was here . You don't have to attach a seal but you must use different wording if you don't. Try replacing 'I have hereunto subscribed my adopted and substituted name of new name in full and also my said former name of old name in full and have affixed my seal' with 'this document has been executed as a Deed', and 'SIGNED SEALED AND DELIVERED' with 'SIGNED as a Deed'. I remind you again with regard to this that I am a programmer not a lawyer.
- I've been authoritatively told by someone who is a lawyer that you only need one witness, not two as in all the online examples of deed polls. And my deed poll with one witness was readily accepted by everyone I presented it to, including the DVLA.
- Unless you want to pay for certified copies of your deed poll, you'll have to do multiple versions of the original. Make sure your intended witness is willing to sign your whole stack of copies!
- Intend to have someone else prepare it?
- There is no official/public/UK/government deed poll office/service. There are however various commercial firms using names similar to those. I invite you to consider why they might be doing that.
- Make sure you know what you're getting for your money! You may just be paying for a printed deed poll form which you'll have to fill in, and get witnessed, yourself. If I was going to pay money for a deed poll I'd make sure it included witnessing, and preferably several certified copies. Typically a local firm of solicitors will charge about £100, plus VAT, for those services.
- A deed poll doesn't put a change of name into effect - your name changes when you start using your new name. The deed is just evidence, for interested parties, that you made the change of name that you're claiming to have made.
- Deed polls can be 'enrolled' but very few people seem to do this. I've not been able to find what, if any, advantage is gained nowadays by enrolling a deed poll - in the past, apparently the passport service would include your old name on your new passport as well as your new name unless the deed poll had been enrolled. I assume this is no longer the case as no contemporary source mentions it.
NB a deed poll has to use a certain form of wording to be enrollable. Details are here http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/rcj-rolls-building/queens-bench/enforcement
Different 'authorities' have wildly different attitudes to checking documentation. Herewith my experience, which may very well differ from yours:
- Doctor's surgery
- Made a copy of a certified copy of the deed poll
- Bank
- Made a copy of the original deed poll, and read it very carefully. Declined to check any other documentation as I'd passed their internet/phone codeword procedure. New bank cards arrived after a leisurely interval of 3 weeks. I got a letter from their mortgage division 2 months later confirming that a change had been made - presumably this one!
- Optician
- Copied new name off certified copy of deed poll
- Council (electoral register and council tax)
- Made a copy of a certified copy of the deed poll. A week later, I got an electoral register form in the post for me to sign and return. I cautiously included a note to say they'd already seen the deed poll. When I went to vote 2 months later, I noticed my name had been updated on the register.
- Dentist
- Made change on request, after reading out my address from their system and asking me to confirm. Declined to look at deed poll or any other documents when these were vaguely waved at them
- Building society A
- Wanted identity papers in new name. Wouldn't take any action until same were produced. Couldn't be arsed in the end, just closed the account.
- Building society B
- Gave me a form to fill in, and took a copy of a certified copy of the deed poll. Declined to look at any other documentation because my signature on the form matched the one on their system.
- DVLC (Driving licence)
- Form asked for passport number, old licence and identity card, and original deed poll. As I have a post-war of terror passport with scanned signature, I didn't have to send the actual passport itself. Original deed poll duly returned after a couple of weeks, flat, in the SAE I sent, and new licence came the day after that.
- DVLC (Vehicle registration document)
- Take note that changing the name on your driving licence and identity card doesn't automatically change the registered keeper's name (if that's you). I had to send the 'change of name' slip from the v.r.d. separately. No fee or documentation is required.
- Water board
- Made change on request, by phone, after being given account number and address.
- Electricity/gas billing company
- On phone, asked me to send them a letter requesting the change. Declined offer to enclose certified copy of deed poll. Next bill arrived with my old name on it. In response to my complaint, they claimed they'd never received my letter. 'If anyone wants to believe that, let him do so.'
Subsequent communications from them correctly had new name. - Phone billing company
- On phone, asked me to send them a letter requesting the change, and a certified copy of deed poll, and were pretty rude about it too. But then they're like that whatever you ask them. Update: they sent the copy back, when I phoned and demanded that they do so. In retrospect I think they didn't actually need the deed poll, rather that the call centrebot didn't know what to do and made something up on the spot.
- Pressure group
- Via email, asked me to send them a letter confirming new name and existing address.
- Employer
- Made a copy of a certified copy of the deed poll.
- Inland Revenue/NI/PAYE/etc
- Online form - the small print says they may also ask you to send documents. I suspected this meant another copy of the deed poll to send out, but I got email confirmation of the change the next week without any further interaction being needed.
- Land Registry (via conveyancer)
- Paid firm of solicitors £140 to handle this, the alternative being to take a day off to travel 100 miles to the designated Land Registry office. They wanted something with an address and something with a photo, and my birth certificate - all in my old name - and the deed poll. LR sent a copy of the new entry after 3 weeks, which interestingly didn't record that my name had been changed, rather it replaced the original entry with one using my new name.
