Adding married name to passport (when I didn't take DH's name on marriage)

[Freetodowhatiwant]

Hi,

I was wondering if you could help me. When we were married 8 years ago I decided to keep my maiden name and this is the name that is on my marriage certificate. However I need a new passport and having flown so many times on my own with the kids have felt it would be good to add my husband's (and our children's) surname on the passport although I don't want to use it on anything else.

Do I need to change my name officially somewhere first? I'm confused as to whether I need to change it by deed poll, whether I can just send my marriage certificate to the passport office (given that my maiden name is on there...) or what? Thanks in advance for any help.

I did send off an application to the Deed Poll folk but in the light of what I've read on here have put it on hold - they allow you to reply to their confirmation email if you have any changes. Whilst they are happy to put it on hold they also said 'However, we can inform you that if you want to change your surname to your husband's surname of xxxx the passport office will ask you for a deed poll to change the name in your passport'.

This isn't true is it? I've read somewhere that in straight forward cases of replacing surname (which I am not actually even doing as I am ADDING surname) you don't need to change it by deed poll.

Hell, I will just call the passport office tomorrow and see what they say.

Can't you just carry birth and marriage certificates?

Or change your children's names to Jones Smith?

Presumably you kept your birth name for a reason?

Hi OP, I did the same and made my name “Jane JONES SMITH” (caps are the surname - I.e. not Jane Jones SMITH). Just sent my marriage certificate when renewing my passport. Totally standards practise as I recall!

As long as the names you want are included within the marriage certificate.
It’s the double barrel option.
It doesn’t matter if you were married 8 years ago, there’s no legal requirement to change it at any time.

Tonnes of people do it when they get married, you’re just doing it later.
I know a guy who added his wife’s name. As long as they’re in the marriage certificate it’s fine.

OK perhaps I wasn’t clear..

Your second statement is factually different from the first (neither match my experience).

However, we can inform you that if you want to change your surname to your husband's surname of xxxx the passport office will ask you for a deed poll to change the name in your passport'.

No they won't. They will ask for evidence. Which is your marriage certificate.

Again, you will not get impartial advice from a deed poll service.

@minimax I did the same and made my name “Jane JONES SMITH” (caps are the surname - I.e. not Jane Jones SMITH). Just sent my marriage certificate when renewing my passport. Totally standards practise as I recall!

that sounds great! That's what I want to be so well make sure I apply that way.

@spottedzebra. I can and do currently travel with the certificates but I am fed up of being asked to show them. My children and I have different colourings so I take it personally, even though it's not a personal thing I realise. I would like to have the same name as them on my passport but also keep my current name.

I got a passport with the same name as my kids for that convenience reason
but kept my tax records in my other name for personal reasons
t'was easy

The deed poll people have replied back with:

'The name on your passport should always match your legal name. Therefore, if you want the name of KIRK in your passport you will need to change all your other documents and records to matc'.

!

Stop taking advice from a deed poll service!

@Freetodowhatiwant When I got married 5 years ago, I did exactly what you are suggesting and simply added my husband's surname after my own, no hyphen.

I was about to pay for deed poll but eventually read on the internet that this was not necessary. I just had to type and sign a statement saying something along the lines of 'I will hereafter be known as Jane Jones Smith and renounce my previous name of Jane Jones'. It was then to be signed by two witnesses and enclosed with my passport renewal application.

Had no problems at all and got passport back with new name within 10 days.

Unfortunately I can't remember the exact web pages where I found the information but I think the passport office website was useful, and I remember googling something like 'do I have to pay for deed poll to change my name?'

Now, I use my maiden name for some things like work, the combined name for others, and when people ask my name I tell what I feel like on the day.

That deed poll site is talking rubbish

Isn’t a deed poll just a fancy bit of paper where you have declared a new name? I’m sure I found a website which had the wording you could print out and sign for free. I was looking at them before I realised I just needed to send my marriage cert to add husband’s surname.

I should add that I enclosed my original marriage certificate too, along with the letter. And @gimbles is right, the deed poll services are just money-making machines. You don't need them to change your name.

I didn’t even send a declaration renouncing my name. I applied for a new passport for Jane Jones Smith (two surnames, not hyphenated) and sent the marriage certificate of Jane Jones and John Smith.

The name on your passport should always match your legal name. Therefore, if you want the name of KIRK in your passport you will need to change all your other documents and records to matc'.

They lie. I am living proof of that fact.

I added my maiden name as a new middle name when I reapplied for a passport after I got married. I didn't have any documents to support the new middle name. The advice line at the Passport Office wasn't much help: he said I'd need to change my name by deed poll, and send in that document but when I asked how I did that he had no idea and just mumbled something about the Post Office.

As PP have said, YOU DO NOT NEED TO PAY to change your name by deed poll. You just have to print out a statement that you were known as Ms Free To Do, and you're now known as Ms Free to Wildly DO, and get two people to witness it. There's a free to download form here, on a site set up by someone who was so sick of people being ripped off by shysters charging £75 for absolutely nothing.

I printed that out, got two friends to witness it, handed it in to the Post Office with my application. Counter clerk was verrrrrry dubious (why? FFS) but ten days later, my new passport arrived.

I use my married name at home, my maiden name professionally and a combination of both when I want to give it the full Hillary Rodham Clinton.

If you are Jane Jones and your husband is Smith, and you want a passport in Jane Jones Smith, you're probably going to need a change of name deed.

This is not true.
You can use your marriage certificate to change your name to any combination of you and your partners names. And he can use it to change his name too if he wants to. No other documentation legally needed.

Of course they’ll say that! Their job is to get you to pay for a deed poll.

The name on your passport should always match your legal name. Therefore, if you want the name of KIRK in your passport you will need to change all your other documents and records to match

While this may not be an absolute legal requirement, it may cause issues if you need to provide multiple forms of ID to prove your identity, eg enter secure sites. I sometimes visit high security prisons for work and need 3 forms of ID off a prescribed list, so if passports and driving licences are in different names it could cause difficulties in such circumstances.

However if this wouldn't affect you, you can probably use multiple versions of birth, married or double barrelled names as you see fit and the main thing would be making sure tickets are booked in the same name as your passport when flying.

Do children's passports include their parent's names? If they did, that could solve your issue OP, but then cause other difficulties, eg when travelling with grandparents, step parents or other relatives?

Deed poll websites are usually a money making con. You can do your own free deed.

Legally you can call yourself anything you want as long as it is not for fraudulent reasons.

Just send off your passport and birth certificate and ask them to add your married name, you can add a covering letter to the form.

In my experience it is easier to change your name on a passport than it is at your bank.

I did it the other way around. After divorce I changed my name, apart from my passport. I now have a passport in my married name which I don't use anywhere else. It's all about the ease of travelling with the kids. When I next need a new passport in ten years I will change it as they will be old then and it won't matter.

Never needed any deed polls or anything.

Hi OP. I know you said you only wanted to change your name on your passport not on anything else in your life, and nor should you! It must be irritating to have to show both and marriage certificates but i would carry on doing just that, it's only for a few years. As the children get older they'll just ask them. Many others on here have said that they still have to show birth certificates and letters of permission to travel even if they have the same surname on the passport, and this may well be the case even if you do change your name on your passport. If your children don't look like you, this may still happen.

If you are Jane Jones and he is Mr Smith, I’d use Smith Jones if you don’t really want to change from Jones. Rather than Jones Smith.

Stop paying any attention to the deed poll service! They are talking crap, to make money out of you.

Just fill out the passport form with the details you want and your marriage certificate as evidence.