What’s in a name? Well, your history is in your name. Your family tree is in your name. Names define people, and being happy and comfortable with your name is really important.

Women who follow the tradition of taking their husbands surname when they get married often wish to return to their maiden name following a divorce.

There are no requirements for names to be changed after a divorce, but many women choose to return to their maiden name. It is seen by many as a positive step forward to gaining control of their lives, returning to their individual identity. There are two ways to deal with leftover marital surnames; using a decree absolute and marriage certificate, or a Deed Poll.

A decree absolute and marriage certificate (which contains her original name) will usually be accepted as evidence of the name change, but sometimes names need to be changed after the event by Deed Poll, or if for some reason the documents aren’t available.

If you have children, you might also wish to change their surnames by Deed Poll to a new surname or double-barrelled version. This decision needs the approval of both parents, particularly if the father is still taking responsibility for the children and paying child support.

If a divorcee wants to change her surname to anything other than her maiden name, it must be done by Deed Poll. This means that first names, middle names and even titles can be changed. It is entirely up to the divorcee to choose a title, whether to stick with Mrs, or change to Miss or Ms.

There may also be circumstances where a woman might want to change her name before the divorce is finalised, and this can also be achieved through the use of a Deed Poll also.

Because of the growth in popularity of double-barrelled surnames incorporating both husband and wife’s surnames, more and more men are finding themselves using part of their wife’s maiden name after the wedding and after the divorce.

Men can also change their name after divorce, by executing a Deed Poll document. Organisations are unlikely to accept a decree absolute and marriage certificate as evidence of a name change for a man. By applying a Deed Poll, all documentation, including passports can be updated to show the chosen Tadalis SX name.

Whatever you want as a name, it can be achieved either through the production of a marriage certificate and decree absolute (if it is a woman who has taken her husband’s name) or through a Deed Poll.

Author Bio: John Mce writes on a number of subjects including the use of a Deed poll and the change of name deed

Category: Legal
Keywords: name change, deed poll, change of name deed, name change deed, divorce name change