To ask for help with changing a name legally

[SnappyLongStocking]

Apologies if this is in the wrong place.

I have 2 DC with my ex. They have his surname but both are adamant they want to change it to mine.

Dd is 15 - ex is named on birth certificate but she was born before the automatic parental responsibility was given.

Ds is 13 - ex isn’t on the birth certificate.

Ex walked out 2 days after I gave birth to my son and we haven’t seen or heard from him since. No contact, no maintenance, don’t know if he’s alive or dead.

Could I change their name for them without him having any say? How do I go about this?

There are so many ‘change your name by deed poll’ hits coming up on google that I’m worrying that they’re fake sites, and don’t want to fall for a scam. This is really important, especially for Dd as she’s doing her GCSEs at the moment and wants her certificates to be in my surname (they are already ‘known as’ my surname at school but their legal name is on anything official)

Thank you if anyone can point me in the right direction to what I have to do and if it’s possible.

following as in a bit of the same boat. Dd has mine and exes surname but he is absent and I want to remove it.

Why would you have given your son the fathers surname if he wasn’t even named on the birth cert? Seems crazy. Go to the proper deed poll website and do it on there.

@pickledchutney because I wanted him to have the same surname as his sister, because I thought ex would come back and we’d still get married etc

Which one is the proper one?

There is no such thing as 'a proper deed poll' website. A deed poll is a document which you type up and sign. You can do it yourself for free (the gov website tells you the wording you need to use). This is all you need to change you name (as an adult) with banks/DVLA etc.

For children, I don't know, it's probably a different story.

But I wish more people knew that adults do not have to pay for deed polls, and there is no 'official' website!

I did this with my daughter, her dad wasn't consistent in her life and it was a bit of a silly surname so I wanted it changed before she started school. He was advised to apply to court if he wanted to dispute it but he never did. When we applied for a passport I was just asked to confirm in writing her dad didn't have parental responsibility. No issues since. I used the deed poll service online.

@tippexy thank you. I suppose it’s just one of those things that you don’t really think about unless you need to do it, and believe me there’s sites charging anything from £9.99 to £250 to do it ‘officially’!

I changed my sons surname when he was 6, he had my surname, his dad wasn't around or on birth certificate and I had got married and had his sister. We changed his surname to the new family surname so we were all the same.

I used a free deedpoll website, you shouldn't need to pay for it. Sent a copy of the deedpoll to school and with his passport renewal and all accepted fine. I was never asked for permission from his father but presuming that's Cos he isn't on the birth certificate, it may be different with your eldest daughter, although at 15 she could could hang on and do her own deedpoll when she turns 16.

all the ones ive seen have to be paid for.

You are looking in the wrong place then.

You absolutely do not have to pay for a deed poll.

Sorry, not able to help about deed poll, but the sites that charge for a deed poll are probably charging an admin fee etc. for doing it for you rather than for the deed poll itself.

I changed mine as an adult at a solicitors,I didn't pay as I was a student but I did need another solicitors firm to co sign the change of name. It might be worth checking with a couple of local firms as the children are under 18 to get an idea of cost and how it would work etc.

freedeedpoll.org.uk

Please don't pay a penny, it's free.

will check that out thanks!

I’ve just changed my DDs name. Used a free deed poll. Sent it to Tax Credits who accepted it and changed her name. Job done.

Here’s the official government advice:

www.gov.uk/change-name-deed-poll/change-a-childs-name

It's about parental responsibility. If he is named on the birth certificate or not.

If he has PR then you would need to prove you have tried to trace him and failed in order to change official documents.

I have just been through the process, change my child's name who we haven't had contact with his dad for 8 years.

I sent an email to an old email address of his and asked, didn't think he'd say yes. He did.

I used www.deedpoll.org.uk and paid as I didn't want him sending his letter of authority to me, so he could send it to them and I did and they issue the deed poll and give me a copy of his letter that I'll need to change passport etc.

It suited me to pay £40 and get it done with them. They were also very helpful on the phone.

It’s true that you can do this yourself for free, in fact you don’t have to sign anything at all, you can just start using a new name - the government website even says so. I chose to have it registered by the court though as otherwise it can be difficult to change some things without the requisite proof of name change. This bit costs £35 and I also had to get it witnessed by a solicitor with a long standing friend as a witness. That bit cost £11. The templates are all on the government website. The whole process is cheaper than any of the ‘deed poll’ websites and is registered properly in the London Gazette

OMG

Seriously?

I’ve never needed to do it, but always assumed it would be FAR more difficult than that.

Why do people always say it’s FAR easier to do it before your baby turns one then? How much simpler could it actually be?

I’m quite blown away that’s all it takes to change a name.

Well going from the official government advice I've done it wrong! I haven't enrolled his new name at the courts?

However when we applied for his passport I sent a cooy of the deedpoll and his passport is in his new name - would the passport office have rejected it if I had done it wrong?

I've always been told you have to pay but my child is not of the age to want his name changed, however I do! Will be following for advice

You don't need to pay to have it registered or signed or in the paper or anything like that.

It's completely free.

But you can pay if it makes you feel more comfortable!

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/global/2018/jan/21/fresh-air-for-sale

Why do people always say it’s FAR easier to do it before your baby turns one then? How much simpler could it actually be?

I think thats because before one you can also change it on the BC after one you cant change the BC and will also need to fill in the “have you been known by any other names” you get on forms so it will always be with you, iyswim.

My mum just started using her surname for both myself and my brother even tho we were named different on our birth certificates. Everything including my National insurance ended up being in this name. Only issue came when I went to get my passport and driving licence they had to be in the name on my birth certificate. I wrote a letter to the registrar General with supporting documents to state I had never been known as 'birth name' for x amount of years and it was changed on my birth certificate with a caveat x name was my previous name. Same goes for when I got married I wrote to the registrar General to have my biological dad sperm donors name removed from my marriage cert and my real dad's added.