Which Name-Change Document Do I Need?

Choose your situation to see a suggested next step, including free and official routes. Read the requirements before paying, then check what each organisation accepts. You do not need to give your name, email address or payment details to use this checker.

1. Choose your situation. Options are grouped by your own name, a child’s name and other document requests.
2. Check the requirements. Follow the suggested guide for evidence, consent and signing instructions.
3. Choose your route. Use an existing certificate or free official form where appropriate. Buy a prepared document only if it fits your needs.

If two organisations ask for different evidence, ask each to confirm what it accepts in writing. One organisation’s policy does not automatically apply to another. Help if a deed poll is not accepted.

A deed poll records your change of name. A statutory declaration is a formal statement made before an authorised witness and can also provide name-change evidence. HM Passport Office accepts both when correctly completed with the supporting evidence it needs. Choose for the receiving organisation’s requirements; buying both is not automatically necessary.

See the name-change statutory declaration guide for that document’s wording and process. More expensive preparation does not remove a recipient’s evidence checks.

LOC021 is a supporting declaration for an adult application to enrol a deed poll at the Royal Courts of Justice. HMCTS says someone who knows you completes it. It is not the general form for every name-change statutory declaration, and you do not need it merely to make an ordinary unenrolled deed poll.

The title of the official LOC021 download includes both “statutory declaration” and “deed poll”, but it belongs to a specific court application. Use the court’s current instructions if you are enrolling. If a bank, passport office or another recipient simply asks for a statutory declaration, confirm the document and facts it requires first.

You can obtain the official court form free. Our official-form directory separates prescribed forms from general prepared declarations. Do not buy our declaration as a substitute for a required court form.

Living in Scotland does not automatically mean you must buy a statutory declaration. Check National Records of Scotland guidance and ask each organisation what evidence it accepts. People whose birth or adoption was registered in Scotland may have a recording route available. Choose a document only after confirming which process applies.

Read National Records of Scotland guidance. Our guide to changing your name in Scotland compares the deed poll, statutory declaration and NRS recording routes, and our UK guide explains jurisdiction differences. A document provider cannot change an official register on your behalf.

Skip InstantDeedPoll for this job. Check the Scottish guidance

If you are 16 or over and changing your own name, an unenrolled deed poll is the document. Sign it in wet ink in front of two independent adult witnesses and it takes effect immediately. No solicitor, court or government approval is required. DIY is free; our personalised PDF is £14.99.

Print three or four copies so each ink-signed copy is an original. Gather accepted evidence in your new name from an employer or bank, then apply to update your licence and passport. DVLA deed-poll applications also need evidence of the new name in use. Skip enrolment unless a specific organisation or an overseas authority has asked for a Gazette record. Adult High Court enrolment costs £53.05, is for people aged 18 or over, and adds publicity rather than validity. At 16 or 17 it goes through the separate GOV.UK child-enrolment process, unless you are or have been married or in a civil partnership.

Full process: name change UK — how to change my name. Document: change of name deed. Free wording: free deed poll template.

Get the £14.99 PDF

A marriage or civil partnership certificate can support taking your partner’s surname, including double-barrelled names for HM Passport Office. The combined name does not have to appear as your new name on the certificate. Check other organisations’ requirements before buying a deed poll; a newly blended surname may need additional evidence.

HM Passport Office explicitly includes double-barrelled names in its certificate route. Keep the original certificate and check each organisation’s application instructions. A new blend or a first-name change is a different situation.

Read changing your name after marriage and GOV.UK passport guidance.

Skip InstantDeedPoll for this job. Use your marriage certificate instead

Reverting to a maiden name after divorce is often possible with your marriage certificate plus decree absolute (final order). Some banks still insist on a deed poll. If you cannot produce both certificates, or you want any name other than your maiden name, the deed poll is the clean single-document route.

A deed poll cannot change your marital status and does not replace the court order. For children’s surnames you still need everyone’s parental-responsibility consent or a Specific Issue Order — that is a different product.

Guide: changing your name after divorce.

See the divorce name-change routes

Separated but not yet divorced, a marriage certificate cannot revert your name. An unenrolled deed poll is the document: no spouse consent and no court. After a decree absolute many organisations accept that order plus the marriage certificate instead. Children’s surnames still need every parental-responsibility holder.

Historic enrolment rules that asked a married woman for her husband’s consent do not apply to an unenrolled deed you sign at home. Guide: change name after separation. Adult deed poll PDF (£14.99).

Read the separation name-change guide

For a child under 16, a parent or guardian applies on their behalf and everyone with parental responsibility must agree in writing. Our £17.99 pack includes those consent letters. If anyone with parental responsibility refuses, do not buy a deed poll — it would not be valid. The lawful route is a Specific Issue Order on form C100.

From the 16th birthday the young person executes their own adult deed poll with no parental consent. An unmarried father who is not on the birth certificate and has no PR agreement or court order does not have to consent — check GOV.UK parental responsibility before you order.

Guides: child’s surname, does the father have to agree?

Start the child pack — £17.99

You cannot lawfully change a child’s name without the consent of everyone who holds parental responsibility. A deed poll made without that consent is not valid, and record-holders who discover the dispute will refuse it. The only route is a Specific Issue Order using form C100; a judge decides on the child’s welfare.

Free official guidance: GOV.UK — change a child’s name. Come back only when every PR holder has agreed in writing; then the child deed poll pack is the right document.

Skip InstantDeedPoll for this job. GOV.UK child name-change guidance

An adoption certificate is issued in the new name and replaces the birth certificate, so you do not need a deed poll to complete an adoption. A child deed poll is only for a later change that is not on that certificate, and every parental-responsibility holder must still consent. If they refuse, the court route is form C100.

Guide: child’s name after adoption. Birth-certificate background: deed polls do not rewrite birth certificates.

Skip InstantDeedPoll for this job. Use the adoption certificate instead

Your wedding registry may ask for a single status declaration, a certificate or a prescribed form. The requirement depends on nationality, residence and destination, so confirm it before ordering. Our single status PDF costs £14.99. Authorised witnessing, translation and legalisation are separate steps and fees where required.

Do not pre-sign. Confirm the current document list with the local marriage registry or your planner — requirements change. Apostille fees (checked 24 September 2026 on GOV.UK): £45 paper plus courier, or £35 e-Apostille where eligible.

The UK cannot issue a certificate of no impediment for a Commonwealth country, so each authority sets its own list. Pafos Municipality in Cyprus lists a statutory declaration signed before a UK solicitor or notary public and apostilled. Malta’s Marriage Registry lists its own forms RZ1 and RZ2 and a third-party affidavit instead, so ask it before buying.

Country guides: Cyprus, Malta. Product: single status declaration.

Generate the declaration — £14.99

For Spain, Italy and Greece the FCDO issues a local certificate of no impediment, not a document we sell. If you live in the UK, give notice at your register office for a UK CNI (£46.50 per person in England and Wales from 6 April 2026, SI 2026/233), then exchange it for a local CNI from the British embassy or consulate for £50 plus any postage.

Apply for the exchange within three months of getting the UK CNI; Italy and Greece accept the local CNI for six months. If you live abroad, the FCDO has a by-post route with forms signed before a local notary instead. If your registry also asks in writing for sworn single-status evidence, our £14.99 declaration covers that variant — it does not replace the CNI.

Guides: Spain, Italy, Greece. Official overview: GOV.UK — getting married abroad.

Skip InstantDeedPoll for this job. GOV.UK getting married abroad

If an organisation specifically asks for a statutory declaration of name change, confirm its required wording before ordering. Prepare the statement and declare it before an authorised witness; do not pre-sign. Our PDF costs £9.99. Witnessing is separate, and the applicable fee depends on the jurisdiction and professional service.

This is not a substitute for a Gender Recognition Certificate, a court order, or a child’s name change without parental-responsibility consent. Never pre-sign — the witness must watch. See stat dec of name change and who can witness.

Generate a name-change declaration — £9.99

Use this when two documents show different versions of your name and the organisation asks for a formal declaration linking them. It records that the documents refer to one person; it does not automatically correct their records. Our PDF costs £9.99. Arrange an authorised witness separately and confirm their fee.

It does not itself change your name. If you also want the records to match going forward, make the deed poll as well, then use this declaration to bridge the historic mismatch.

Product: one and the same person.

Generate an identity declaration — £9.99

A statutory declaration can record that a document has been lost or destroyed and that you are the person it related to. It does not replace the original certificate. Confirm that the recipient wants this declaration before paying. Our PDF costs £9.99, with authorised witnessing arranged and paid for separately.

This is not a replacement certificate. Copies of birth, marriage and death certificates come from the General Register Office or a local register office (in Scotland, National Records of Scotland; in Northern Ireland, GRONI), and a lost passport is cancelled and replaced through HM Passport Office. Use the declaration only where the receiving body has asked for one.

Product: lost document declaration.

Generate a lost-document declaration — £9.99

A lost signed deed poll is replaced by printing the same wording and signing a fresh original in front of two witnesses. Do not pay an archive fee for a scan, and do not use a lost-document statutory declaration — that is for passports and certificates an authority issued. Re-download ours for 12 months, or use the free wording.

Guide: lost or replacement deed poll. Free wording: free template. Comparison of archive extras: vs UK Deed Poll Service.

See how to replace a lost deed poll

An unpaid penalty charge is challenged on a free court form. GOV.UK says to use TE9 (TE7 if late) for a parking PCN, a witness statement you sign alone, and PE3 for London moving traffic, low emission zone, and moving traffic PCNs issued outside London before 1 June 2022. If a PE3 is late, HM Courts & Tribunals Service’s notes say to add form PE2, though GOV.UK’s out-of-time page lists PE3 for London moving traffic, so use the forms sent with your Order for Recovery. HM Courts & Tribunals Service says County Court staff witness PE3 free at most hearing centres. We do not sell these forms.

Walkthrough: which form you need: PE3, PE2, TE9 or TE7. Other free official forms: when to use the free forms.

Skip InstantDeedPoll for this job. Read the free court-form route

Enrolment is a court process, not a PDF we generate. From age 18 you can put a name change on public record at the High Court for £53.05 (GOV.UK, checked 24 September 2026). It publishes your old name, new name and address in The Gazette. It does not make an unenrolled deed poll more legal.

GOV.UK notes that some organisations (some banks, mobile or energy providers) may only accept an enrolled deed poll — ask that organisation first. If they will take an unenrolled deed, enrolment is unnecessary. Official process: enrol a deed poll with the courts. A child’s deed poll is enrolled through a separate process: change a child’s name.

Comparison: enrolled vs unenrolled.

Skip InstantDeedPoll for this job. GOV.UK enrolment guidance

A correctly worded deed poll you type yourself, properly signed as a deed, can evidence your name change. GOV.UK publishes the model wording at no cost. Our free template copies that wording with no email gate. Pay £14.99 only if you want the details merged, an instruction card, re-downloads and the 60-day wording guarantee.

What matters is correct wording and proper execution, not who formatted the page. HM Passport Office accepts a dated deed with wet-ink signatures in both names and at least one witness. The GOV.UK model uses two adult witnesses who are physically present, and some organisations will not accept a witness who is a close relative or lives at your address — see who can witness a deed poll. Electronic signatures are not accepted by HM Passport Office or the DVLA.

Template: free deed poll template.

Open the free template

This checker cannot interpret court orders, assess a disputed name change or decide what a particular bank will accept. Follow the relevant official process for court orders and Gender Recognition Certificates. For enrolment, the checker links to GOV.UK rather than selling you another document.

Related guides: what a deed poll is, change of name deed, name change UK, how long it takes, lost deed poll, enrolled vs unenrolled, sourced fee tables.