Change Your Name Legally By Deed Poll

How to change your Name
If you wish to be known by a different name you can change your name at any time, provided you do not intend to deceive or defraud another person. You can change your forename or surname, add names or rearrange your existing names by virtue of deed poll.
What is a Deed Poll?

A deed poll is a formal statement to prove that your name has been changed. For most people it will not be necessary to prepare a deed poll as evidence that they have changed their name. However, there may be cases when a deed poll is required, for example, when applying for a passport.

A Deed Poll for a change of name contains three declarations and by executing the Deed Poll (signing, dating and having your signing witnessed) you are legally committing yourself to:
Abandoning the use of your former name;
Using your new name only at all times;
Requiring all persons to address you by your new name only.
Effect of Deed Poll
The term deed poll refers to a document that is binding to a single person only or to several persons acting jointly (as one) to express an act. In the case of a name change, deed poll it is a binding document that one person creates to express the act of changing their name.

Benefit of using Deed Poll
The benefit of using a deed poll service to change your name is that you will be avoiding the courtroom process completely and have your name changed in a very short period of time. Just find a good service and begin the process of having the document written for you that will change your first or last name forever legally. You will have to confirm the name change by signing the document and then you should make sure to inform everyone who needs to know about your name change.
Why do People Change their Name by Deed Poll?
Some reasons are given below:
Upon separation, women who wish to be known their maiden name
Upon divorce, women who find they cannot get all their documents and records changed back to their maiden name without a Deed Poll.
Upon divorce, women with children who want to double-barrel their married surname with their maiden name (thus retaining a name link to their children).
People who have been using a different name to their birth name who want to formalise their name change so that all their official documents and records show the name they have been using
Unmarried mothers, whose children were registered with the father's surname, wish their children to have their surname following the breakdown of the relationship with the father.
Upon marriage or a civil partnership, the couple chooses to have a double-barrelled surname.
People who don't like their name because it is embarrassing.
People who have fallen out with their family and no longer wish to be associated by name with their family
Upon marriage, brides who take their husband's surname want to make their maiden name a middle name
Upon marriage, mothers who already have children from a former relationship want to have the surname of their children changed to the new family surname.
Women who change their surname to their partner's and their title to Mrs as an alternative to marriage.
Young people, when reaching the age of 16, who wish to change their surname to their mother and step-father's surname (because their father would not consent to their name change when their mother remarried).
People who have changed their religion and wish to have a name more appropriate for their religion.
People who have researched their family tree and wish to change their surname back to their original family surname.
People who wish to have an unusual or a "fun name".
Transsexuals who wish to change their name and title when they decide to live in their new gender.
Entertainers who want to formally use their stage name.
So long as you are not changing your name for fraudulent purposes, it doesn't matter what the reason is - it's your right to be known by whatever name you.

Will the Birth Certificate be changed?
It is unlikely that the original birth certificate will change; the reason for this is that the birth certificate is considered to be a historical record, correct at the time of birth. To change a name legally you will have to do this by deed poll.
Similarly, a deed poll cannot be used to get birth, marriage, civil partnership, decree absolute or educational certificates changed because these are historical records, which were issued in the correct name

Who can apply for a Deed Poll?
Your age, nationality and country of residence are the factors that determine whether you can apply for a Deed Poll to change your name.
Age requirement
To change your own name by deed poll you must be at least 16 years of age. To change the name of a child who is under 16 years of age. Please see below.
If you are British and resident in the United Kingdom
There are no restrictions to changing your name by deed poll
If you are British and resident outside of the United Kingdom
A deed poll has legal status for you, but you should contact your local Consular Services section at your nearest British Embassy to make sure there are no special requirements in your region

If you are a Foreign National and resident in the United Kingdom:
A deed poll has legal status for you, but you should contact the Consular Services section of your country's Embassy in the UK to ensure there are no special requirements

Undischarged bankrupts
If you are an undischarged bankrupt, you are free to change your name by deed poll. However, if you are self employed and want to trade in your new name, you must tell all those with whom you do business the name in which you were made bankrupt. This condition does not apply once you are discharged from bankruptcy. You must also notify the Official Receiver dealing with your bankruptcy of your name change.
People with criminal records
Having a criminal record does not prevent you from changing your name by deed poll. However, you must be aware of the following:
If you have any existing or pending criminal actions against you, you must notify the police station dealing with your case of your name change.
If you are on probation, you must notify your probation officer of your name change.
If you are on the Sex Offenders' Register, you must notify the police within 14 days of your name change. It is a criminal offence not to do so.
Asylum Seekers
UK deed polls are accepted by the UK Border Agency for both Asylum Seekers and Refugees.

Are there any Restrictions on Names?

The deed poll service will not accept an order for a change of name if:
it is impossible to pronounce;
it includes numbers or symbols;
it includes punctuation marks - although you can have a hyphen and an apostrophe;
the deed poll service consider it to be vulgar, offensive, blasphemous or unsuitable;
it may result in others believing you have a conferred or inherited honour, title or rank;
it does not include at least one forename and one surname.
Changing Your Child's Name
It is also possible to change a child's name by using deed poll if they are under 16. Those who have parental responsibility over the child must consent to the change of name, and so must the child themselves if they are over 16.

Legal Residency Change in the Military

I am a in the military. My current residency is Louisiana. I would like to change my residency to Florida. What are the requirements to make this change? Also, I will be going to a 3 month school in Florida in conjunction with PCS orders to Puerto Rico. Would this help me?

Answer: to acquire a domicile of choice in a new place two things must happen:

(a) you must be in the state and

(b) while you are there and before you leave, you must intend to make it your permanent home.

Those two requirements are all that's necessary. You don't have to buy property in the new state, open a bank account there, vote, get a driver's license, file a legal notice in the paper, or anything else. Physical presence, combined simultaneously with the appropriate mental intent, is all that's required.

So your time in Florida will satisfy the presence requirement.

Unfortunately, proving mental intent can be difficult sometimes.

So to prove that you really did intend to make the new state your domicile, it might be a good idea to do some or all of the things mentioned below, with the understanding that those actions are not what make you a legal resident; rather they are simply evidence that you did intend to make the state your SLR.

You do not need to live in the state for any length of time, own a home in the state, or to have an address in the state to be domiciled in it. You only need to be physically present in the state at the time you decide to make it your permanent home. You could for example, drive through the state and be so struck by its beauty that you immediately adopt it as your permanent home, but if you do not have feelings about it before you drive out of it, your domicile has not changed.

Domicile is primarily a state of mind that a certain place is your permanent home.

It is a mental attachment that you carry around with you. Once you acquire a domicile it remains your domicile, even though you leave it, unless your state of mind changes while you are in another place.

If you change your state of domicile, you may have to prove it. You might, for example, have decided to stop paying state income taxes because you changed your domicile to a state with no income tax. Your old domicile, the state losing tax revenue, may question that change. Or your spouse, for example, might sue for divorce in your former domicile, and you might not like the divorce laws there. If you can prove your domicile changed, you might be able to get the case dismissed. In the case of taxes, if you cannot prove your domicile changed, you could end up owing taxes to two or more states, and require that a court decide the matter.

The best evidence of your state of mind is the contacts that other people can see you have with a specific state. For the kinds of actions to help prove your state of domicile see the list below. You may not prove successfully that your domicile has changed unless your show contacts beyond just the benefit of the legal consequences that a change of domicile would give you. You should have all your contacts with the one state you call your permanent home. If you have contacts with multiple states, it may be difficult or impossible to prove your domicile.

Actions to show intent:

1. Expressed intent, oral or written and physical presence, past and present (including duration) [Prerequisite to establishing domicile].

2. Voter registration [Important Factor]

3. Vehicle registration as a resident vice non-residence military [Important factor, but you have a choice.]

4. Motor vehicle operator's permit [Important Factor]

5. Location of bank and investment accounts.

6. Explanations for temporary changes in residence.

7. Submission of DD Form 2058 (Change of domicile form).

8. Payment of taxes - income and personal property [Important Factor]

9. Payment of nonresident tuition to institutions of higher education

10. Declarations of residence on legal documents such as wills, deeds, mortgages, leases, contracts, insurance policies, and hospital records. [Important factor]

11. Declarations of domicile in affidavits or litigation[Important Factor]

12. Residence of immediate family.

13. Membership in church, civil, professional, service or fraternal organizations.

14. Ownership of burial plots.

15. Place of burial of immediate family members.

16. Location of donees of charitable contributions.

17. Location of schools attended by children.

18. Ownership of real property. [Important factor. However, ownership of property in another state will not disqualify.]

19. Home of record at the time of entering service.

20. Place of marriage.

21. Spouse's domicile.

22. Place of birth.

23. Business interests.

24. Sources of income.

25. Outside employment.

26. Address provided on federal income tax return.

Generally, unless you have taken at least some of these steps, it is doubtful that you're State of legal residence/ domicile has changed. Failure to resolve any doubts as to your State of legal residence/domicile may adversely impact on certain legal privileges which depend on legal residence/ domicile including among others, eligibility for resident tuition rates at State universities, eligibility to vote or be a candidate for public office, and eligibility for various welfare benefits. If you have any doubt with regard to your State of legal residence/domicile, you should see your Legal Assistance attorney for legal advice before deciding to change your domicile.