Go back to your maiden name with your marriage certificate and final order, or take any new name by deed poll. What to send, what it costs, and who to tell first.
To go back to your maiden name after divorce you usually need your marriage certificate, your final order (decree absolute for older divorces), your birth certificate and a signed statement. For any other name, or if a document is missing, you need a deed poll. Your ex does not have to agree.
The first decision sets everything else. If you want your birth surname back, the paperwork from your marriage and divorce usually does the job on its own. If you want any other name, or you cannot lay hands on those papers, a deed poll does it instead.
Nobody needs a former spouse's permission for either. An adult in England and Wales can change their own name at any time, for any reason, and the divorce does not have to be over first.
Not sure whether to change at all? There is no rule. Some people want a clean line under the marriage. Others keep the married name because their children carry it or their clients know it. Both are fine, and you can change later.
Your title needs no paperwork at all. Going from Mrs back to Ms or Miss is your choice, and you can start using it today. Your passport does not print a title, and DVLA asks for no evidence of a title change.
If you married and divorced in the UK, most banks, employers and government offices will put you back to your maiden name when they see:
The signed statement is a few lines: your married name, your maiden name, the date you went back to it, and a sentence saying you have dropped the married name for everything. Sign and date it. HM Passport Office wants exactly this, and it also asks for one document that shows you already use the name, such as a payslip or a letter from your council.
The terms changed in April 2022. In England and Wales a divorce now runs conditional order, then final order. Divorces started before that date used decree nisi and decree absolute, and those documents are still valid. Scotland issues an extract decree of divorce, and Northern Ireland still uses the decree absolute.
gov.uk itself warns that some organisations will not change your name back without a deed poll. Banks and mobile networks are the usual ones. If you hit one, a deed poll settles it, and you can then use the same document everywhere else.
Once your documents are in order, the slow part is telling everyone. The Name Change Kit (£59.95) gives you the completed forms and letters for HM Passport Office, DVLA, HMRC, the electoral register, Council Tax, HM Land Registry and Companies House, filled in and ready to sign.
Apply before 3pm and your deed poll is prepared today.
Two ways round it: order replacements, or get a deed poll and skip the search.
If you know your case number, apply to the Divorce Service Centre (16 digit case numbers) or to the court that handled the divorce. A copy costs £14 and usually arrives within a week of payment.
Without the case number, the court searches its records for £89 per ten year period. If you do not know which court either, form D440 goes to the Bury St Edmunds Divorce Unit, again £89 per ten years, and the copy takes up to 45 days.
For events registered in England and Wales, order from the General Register Office online. A certificate costs £12.50 and is posted four days after you apply; the priority service is £38.50 and goes out the next working day. Scotland and Northern Ireland keep their own registers.
A foreign marriage certificate or divorce decree can be used, but anything not in English or Welsh needs a certified translation alongside the original, and each organisation judges the paperwork for itself. Many people in this position go straight to a deed poll: one document, in English, that UK organisations recognise, with no translation to pay for.
A deed poll is a signed declaration that you have dropped your old name, taken your new one, and will use it for all purposes from a stated date. The new name can be your maiden name or anything else. It stands in for the whole bundle of certificates, so a missing marriage certificate or an untranslated decree stops mattering.
There is no government counter that issues deed polls. You can pay a solicitor, or apply with UK Deed Poll for £22.50. The adult deed poll application takes about five minutes. Applications received before 3pm Monday to Friday are prepared the same day and posted within two working days by First Class Post. You sign it in front of two independent witnesses aged 18 or over who live in the UK (not a partner, a relative or anyone at your address), and it is ready to use. If any organisation refuses it, you get your money back, subject to our terms. UK Deed Poll is not a government agency.
Some people do not want the maiden name either. A surname from further back in the family, a double barrel, a fresh start. The route is the same whichever you pick: a deed poll, because no certificate links your married name to a name you have never held.
The deed poll we provide is unenrolled, which is what almost everyone uses. Enrolling a deed poll at the Royal Courts of Justice is a separate, optional step that puts the change on public record for a court fee of £53.05. A handful of organisations ask for it, so check with any bank that is being difficult before you pay.
One limit worth knowing: a deed poll does not change a birth certificate. Your birth certificate stays as it was, and the deed poll sits alongside it as the bridge between the two names. UK Deed Poll has issued over 900,000 deed polls in 13 years, and the deed poll guide covers the full process.
Your own name is your decision. A child's name is not, and this is where divorce gets legally careful. Everyone with parental responsibility must agree in writing before a child's name can change, and a father who was married to the mother when the child was born has parental responsibility whether or not he still sees the child. If your former spouse refuses, consent alone cannot get it done.
If agreement is impossible, the family court can decide. You apply for a specific issue order on form C100 (a £263 court fee, with help available on low incomes), and the judge decides on what is best for the child, not on what either parent prefers. Try to agree first; the court expects you to have.
With everyone's consent in hand, a child deed poll (£22.50, for a child aged 15 or under, applied for by a parent or carer) records the new name. Children aged 16 and 17 make their own deed poll. The child deed poll guide walks through consent and the school, GP and passport steps.
Order matters. Update the documents that prove your identity first, because everyone else will ask to see them.
Nothing forces you to update the smaller accounts, but a bank card in one name and a passport in another causes friction every time you prove who you are. The Name Change Kit covers the government offices on that list with forms and letters already filled in; the rest usually need one short letter each.
Changing the name on your passport means applying for a new one: £102 online or £115.50 by paper form for a standard adult passport. Send your birth certificate, your marriage certificate, your signed statement and a document showing you already use the name, or your deed poll if you have one. Full detail is in our passport name change guide.
DVLA charges nothing for a name change. Post your current licence with form D1 and your original evidence (marriage certificate plus final order, or your deed poll; no photocopies), and you can keep driving while the new licence is on its way. Update the V5C log book for any vehicle in your name at the same time. See the driving licence guide.
Most banks want to see you in branch with the original documents: your deed poll, or your marriage certificate with the final order. Banks are the organisations most likely to insist on a deed poll for a return to a maiden name, so a two minute call before you go saves a wasted trip.
Yes. You do not have to wait for the divorce to finish. A deed poll changes your name from the day you sign it, whatever stage the divorce has reached. Some organisations will also accept your marriage certificate with a signed statement while you are separated, but they are not obliged to, so the deed poll is the reliable route if you want it done now.
No. Your name is yours, and a former spouse has no say over it, before or after the final order. The one exception is a child's surname, where everyone with parental responsibility must consent or a court must order it.
Order a replacement from the General Register Office for £12.50 if the marriage was registered in England or Wales, or make the certificate unnecessary by getting a deed poll. The deed poll is the quicker option if the marriage was abroad or the certificate would need translating.
Only with the written agreement of everyone who holds parental responsibility, which nearly always includes your former spouse, or with a specific issue order from the family court. Once you have consent, a child deed poll records the change.
No. A deed poll changes your name and nothing else. Your financial order, any maintenance, your rights over property and your parental responsibility all continue exactly as they were. Keep the deed poll with your divorce papers so both names can always be traced to the same person.
Adult deed poll £22.50. Apply in five minutes, prepared today before 3pm.
Online deed poll applications for adults and children across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Questions? support@ukdeedpoll.org