Deed Poll.

[Carol Anne]

My friend has recently decided to change hers and her two childrens names to that of her partner, by deed poll. I read somewhere a while back that you can legally do this for yourself thereby saving on legal costs etc. My friend isnt so sure, but if I recall correctly the article I read said , basically the only difference between a correctly worded DIY deed poll and a professional one would probably only be the quality of the paper and a meaningless 'seal' thing on the corner of the page. Deos anyone know where the wording could be downloaded for free?

[Carol Anne]

Sorry. Not the childrens, only her own.

[Ethel]

All the information she needs is here:

http://www.clsdirect.org.uk/legalhelp/leaflet3 1.jsp?lang=en

It can be done simply by useage, but although legal it can be difficult in respect of official documents.

But don't forget that changing names on passport, driving licence and so on will probably incur a cost.
Insurance companies, banks, council, gp, utilities and so on will all have to be informed.

For the sake of simplicity it will probably be best to pay a solicitor the �30 or so fee. Or there is an online service that does it for under �10.

[Pippa68]

Ethel is right ~ although the online deed polls are cheap & simple and can be used, most official companies eg banks require a solicitors version.

I have one which was arranged by my solicitor and have never had any problems..whilst I have heard of others using the online ones which were not accepted by certain companies.

[Carol Anne]

Hi Ethel and Pippa, Your'e probably right on this one, although if you have a correctly worded document, which is all a deed poll appears to be, why should it matter who produced it, especially as there are no legal requirements for regisration or enrolment, as Ethel's link explained.. I notice some of the online ones do guarantee acceptance by the passport office or your money back but as the establishment like to look after each other in this she'll probably be better off shelling out the top dollar to a solicitor.

[magic moe]

i recently changed my name with the official deed poll office online, the cost was �34 for the change of name, �13 to have it leagally registered and �1 for each legal copy, to get the copies you have to have the change registered, i have changed my passport driving liceance tax records ect and have had no problem in doing so, so long as you send a legal copy with your request in changing your name with those concerned you will not have any problems.

[devcom]

I would have thought it would just be better to pay the fee for an organisation like http://www.deedpollservice.com to prepare the Deed Polls for you.

It is only �25 and �30 for an adult and child respectively from the site mentioned above.