Changing surname - complex

jojo1974

I'm after some advice please.

It's quite complex

My husband passed away two years ago and I have kept his surname however I am now due to have a baby in March and as the baby has no connection to my late husband I have decided to return to my maiden name.

I have done some research and apparently evidence of his death certificate and our marriage certificate would usually be enough. However as I was divorced my name on my marriage certificate is that of my ex husband and no reference to my maiden name.

So, will me birth certificate and husbands death certificate be enough evidence or am I going to need to do an 'enrolled' deed poll? I think I need to do this before baby arrives so I can officially register her with my maiden surname.

Thank you for any help you can give me.

TonyMMM

When you register the birth you can choose any surname you like for the child.

Your surname will be recorded as being the name you "use or are known by" at the time of the birth. If you currently use your maiden or birth name then that is the name that will be recorded. You will be asked if you have ever used or been known by any other name, which you can explain to the registrar - those names don't have to be shown on the register.

You don't need a deed poll to change your name back - your name is what it always was/is and choosing to use a married name for a time doesn't change that.

Just let people who need to know (doctor, banks, dvla etc.) that you are now known as xxxx

TBagpuss

As Tony says, you can register your child with whatever name you like.

You can also call yourself whatever you like.

If you like, you can do a change of name deed. Normally this would just refer to the name you are changing from and to (e.g. Jane Smith to Jane Richards) but there';s no reason you cant also reference the previous name (e.g. Jane Smith (formerly known as Jane Williams) to Jane Richards)

What research have you been looking at? A lot of organisations (including the passport agency) will record a change of name without needing to see a formal deed, if you can show you are reverting to a previous name - the most common situation being when you are returning o a maiden name following divorce. You would need to contact the individual organisation to see what they would accept(and sometimes, for places like banks, it can be easier to close the account and then open a new one in the new (old!) name once you have some ID in that name.

74jax

Just register baby in what ever surname you want. And put your surname down as your maiden name - it's your name?

Ms_Chocaholic

Is this because when you are in hospital your baby is given the surname of the mother so that in the event of an emergency there is no confusion. If that's the case, just change your surname with your GP/midwife to avoid that.

itzmee

My son didn't have either mine, or his dad's surname when we registered him! We asked the registrar who confirmed we could give whatever surname we wanted.


It's not as weird as it sounds, we gave ds his dad's birth surname - dad was adopted when his mum remarried, so had a different surname, but he always intended to change it back again.

bouicca21

You should be able to crack the passport office without a deed poll. Once you have a new passport all the others - bank etc - will be easy.