Bank account in maiden name

[oldfatandtired1]

Not sure if this should be in legal, money or divorce but here goes. . My husband walked out a year ago. Before I could do anything he drained our joint bank accounts - I had no accounts in my name. I now want to put my salary in my own account so I opened one online on Monday in my maiden name of Jane Smith and not my married name of Jane Jones (not my real names, btw!). I have not done anything legally about reverting to my maiden name.

This morning the docs arrived. I have to provide photo ID before the account can be activated. My passport is in the name of Jane Jones . . .Will the bank accept this, plus my marriage certificate and birth certificate as proof of identity? I can also supply pay slips showing the name change - my national insurance no. and employee number are on them too.

I should have opened the account in my married name and then changed it but I'm trying to get things started now and want to leave the old name behind . . .

Ask the bank if they will accept that. They are the only people who can answer your question.

Very unlikely , they will need to see proof of id in the name that's on the application . Or copy of deed poll certificate if you have no new proof yet in your maiden name .
If you think about it in a different way , Hi I'm bob smith, here to open my account but I've only got proof of Id in a different name that I used to use Bob jones, you can take my word it's all above board honest !!! lol
I'm not for one minute sugesting that you are trying to open an account fraudulently but people will use any story to get an account open and banks have to be very careful and follow guidelines .
Sorry not want you wanted to hear but get in touch with the bank explain the situation and they may increase that amount of time you have to get the right proofs to get the account up and running
X

They are very security conscious re names. I have a business account in my maiden name and the bank will not link it with my personal account for easy transfers etc.
However I had a call from them a couple of years ago to say that a cheque I had written from the business account had the wrong signature.
It appears that when I changed the mandate on my personal account when I got married they had also applied it to the business account. Not a problem because it is easier to use the one signature, apart form the fact I had been married for 11years.
I asked why it hadn't been a problem for the previous 11years they said they only checked the signature on large cheques. When I pointed out that I regularly wrote out large cheques the girl dealing with me went very quiet.

Thanks. I do understand. They did ask on the form whether I'd been known by any other name in the past 3 years and I answered truthfully with my married name. 'All' my names are quite unusual too. As prh says - ask the bank! I'll take all the documents in and hope for the best.

I reverted back to my maiden name when i divorced, i took my birth certificate and my marriage certificate to the bank, i had changed the details with my electricity supplier & gas supplier, and asked my work to change my name, i did a "to whom it concerns" letter saying that i would now be known as xxx, that was that, my passport stayed in my married name until it ran out. The bank accepted that.

That's encouraging overthehill. I am now known by my maiden name at work and my payslips for the past year are in the name of
'Jones' for the first 6 months and then they change to 'Smith'. Address the same, national insurance no. the same and employee number the same. We'll see!

Well, I went to the bank this morning. Explained the situation, produced passport in 'married' name and council tax bill. No questions asked, account now open. I apparently have a 'mirror' account where both names are accepted. Good!