Changing back to maiden name advice please

Jude57

NornIronRose said:

I want to change back to my maiden name. I have used a template from gov.uk and got it witnessed by two independent witnesses. 

I now want to start to change passport, driving licence, utilities, work details etc. 

Has anyone done this and know what is a good order to do it in? Have to go into the bank in order to do that one. Passport asks for work payslip and deed poll etc. 

This feels like a very big job to do. I'm sure that once I get started it won't be too bad, but I genuinely don't know which order would be best. 
Once I go down this road I need to get it all done. Some companies by default ask for a decree absolut, but I am not in a position to do this right now and also can't do an enrolled deed poll as I am unable to inform my ex. 

If someone has experience of doing this, can you guide me please? 

Just to add that, if you're in Northern Ireland as your name suggests (or Scotland, Channel Islands, Isle of Man etc) there may be different rules so it's worth checking that, if it applies to you.

NornIronRose

Thanks Jude. I am in England but yearning for the day when I can retire back home to N Ireland. 

NornIronRose

I think I will look at which is easiest to do between passport and drivers licence. Whichever doesn't ask for a decree absolute will be what I go for first. 
Would love to go for divorce but as I don't have an address for my ex, I can't get past that page on the online form. 

Spendless

Yes, contact the companies concerned and ask what you need to provide to prove your name change. They'll possibly send you one of their change of name forms and ask you to provide the evidence and what they accept. 

I check  name changes  as part of my job (council) and the form you've got  witnessed would be sufficient for me to update your details. 

NornIronRose

Thanks Spendless. That is helpful to know. 

TBagpuss

NornIronRose said:

I think I will look at which is easiest to do between passport and drivers licence. Whichever doesn't ask for a decree absolute will be what I go for first. 
Would love to go for divorce but as I don't have an address for my ex, I can't get past that page on the online form. 

Can you fill in it say "LastKnownAddress 1 AnyStreet, Anytonw, AA1 1AA" (Using the actual last known address, or their parents address if you have that and if they still have parents) but putting 'last known address' in as if it were a house name)? I think that would let you get past that page.

Do you have an e-mail address for ex? 

If you can get it issued then you should be able to then apply for direction to allow you to serve it via e-mail .

You can still do a paper application although it is much slowert as Bury St Edmuds court now has to deal wiith all paper appliations and last time I checked had an 18 week backlog just to deal with correspondence 

NornIronRose

I have decided to go for it and put his work address. Why not? 

Cheery_Daff

Can't advise on divorce, but my husband changed his surname a few years back, and as others have said, it was straightforward. He didn't even do deedpoll, just a - actually, I can't even remember what it was called - statement of account?? Just typed up an official looking bit of paper himself and got a couple of pals to sign it. Asked them to sign about 8 copies as some organisations will only take originals.

Then we made a spreadsheet - started with drivers licence, then bank, then passport, then car insurance, then slowly (very slowly in some cases) everything else as it turned up (so if there was a letter from a savings account, or a subscription, we then did that).

Spreadsheet really helped to keep track of what had been done, and what was left, and whether there was anything still pending. 

There's probably still the odd thing that hasn't been done about 12 years later but they probably don't matter at this stage 😂

Incidentally, my mum changed back to her maiden name a couple of years after that - by deed poll as she'd already been divorced for about 35 years but still using married name. She started with driving licence, work, and bank too (but didn't have a passport).

And sounds like a good plan to use his work address!

NornIronRose

Thanks Cheery Daff. That is very useful. I'm a very disorganised person so a spreadsheet is a good idea. 

smudge56

NornIronRose said:

I want to change back to my maiden name. I have used a template from gov.uk and got it witnessed by two independent witnesses. 

I now want to start to change passport, driving licence, utilities, work details etc. 

Has anyone done this and know what is a good order to do it in? Have to go into the bank in order to do that one. Passport asks for work payslip and deed poll etc. 

This feels like a very big job to do. I'm sure that once I get started it won't be too bad, but I genuinely don't know which order would be best. 
Once I go down this road I need to get it all done. Some companies by default ask for a decree absolut, but I am not in a position to do this right now and also can't do an enrolled deed poll as I am unable to inform my ex. 

If someone has experience of doing this, can you guide me please? 

To change your passport you will need your birth certificate, marriage certificate, divorce certificate if you have one, two pieces of evidence showing you are using your maiden for all purposes and a statement saying you are reverting to your maiden name. If you have a foreign passport that should be changed to your maiden name before your British passport an be issued.  If you don’t have a divorce document just state that on the application