Changing your child's name is a very simple process, providing those with parental responsibility all consent to the name change.

Parental Responsibility: Parental responsibility is the legal term used for those that have legal responsibility over a child under the age of 18.  The consent of that person/s would therefore need to be obtained before a name change could take place.                                                                                         

Under the Children Act 1989, parental responsibility is automatically given to the mother of a child regardless of whether or not she is married.  A married father also automatically acquires parental responsibility for his child. 

Unmarried fathers are now in a better legal position with regards to parental responsibility. With effect from 1st December 2003, under S.111 of the new adoption and children Act 2002, a father will automatically acquire parental responsibility if he attends with the child's mother to register the birth of his child and his name therefore appears on the birth certificate. This will give him the same legal rights as a married father would have.  This is applicable to residents of the UK and Wales. 

If you are a resident of Northern Ireland, a birth registered from 15th April 2002, will automatically give the father parental responsibility if his name appears on the birth certificate.

A father with parental responsibility would be required to give his consent before his child's name can be changed.  The father's consent would still be required even if he is now divorced or separated from the child's mother or if he has remarried again.  

Children under 16:  If the child is under the age of 16, as long as all those with parental responsibility give their consent, the child's name change may then take place.

Children aged between 16-17:  When changing the name of a child who is aged between 16 and 17, the consent of the child is also required in addition to those with parental responsibility.  If a child of 16 or 17 wishes to change their name but cannot obtain the consent of those with parental responsibility, they would have to wait until they are 18 when they would be classed as an adult and could execute their own Deed Poll.

Absent fathers/Refused consent: Many people wish to change their children's names without the consent of the father as they are unable to contact him or his whereabouts is now unknown.  Any name change without the father's consent does of course carry some risks, but is still possible.  The mother of the child would have to write a consent letter detailing what steps she has taken to contact the absent father.  This would need to include  evidence of contact with his last known address/family relatives etc.  Once the consent letter is effective the name change could then take place.  The mother however, must be aware that the father could contest this name change through the courts in the future.  The courts however, would only reverse the name change if it were shown to be in the best interest of the child.  Therefore a prolonged absence by a father would not be looked on favourably by the courts and the reversal would probably not be deemed suitable for the child.

If a parent reuses to give their consent even though they have little  or nothing to do with the child, obtaining  a court order would be the only guaranteed way to make sure that you could change the name of your child without the consent needed.  You can apply to your local County Court for an Order for the name change to take place.  The C1 form would need to be obtained and duly completed.

Failure to obtain the rightful consent for a child's name change will result in Alpha Deed accepting no responsibility whatsoever for any legal action that may be as a direct result of this.

For more information, please refer to the Children's 'frequently asked questions' section found below:

I am divorced from the father of my child. My child is 10 years old and we both wish to change our name. Would we require the consent of my ex-husband? 

Yes, if you were married to the father of your child at the time of your child's birth or have married him at any time subsequent to the birth, your ex-husbands consent would be required. Even though you are now divorced your husband still has joint parental responsibility.

I wish to change my child's name. I have never been married to the father. Do I have to obtain his permission?

No, as you were not married to your child's father at the time of your child's birth and have not married him since, you have sole parental responsibility.  Written consent is therefore only required from the mother. 

I would like to change my surname and that of my three children. I would like to know if I could use the family pack to do this?

Yes, the family pack is for a single adult changing the surname of a family with at least one child under the age of 18. The parent can also change their forenames if required. If the child wishes to change their forenames too, a separate child Deed Poll would have to be executed.

Do I have to send Alpha Deed my letters of consent or my child's birth certificate?

Alpha Deed does not need the consent letters, or the child's birth certificate to be submitted along with the application form. It is the main applicant's responsibility to have the necessary letters of consent required in order to make the Deed Poll legally binding.   Without these letters you risk invalidating your Deed Poll.   When using your child's Deed Poll certificate to amend records with various companies and organisations it is the main applicant's  responsibility to make sure the relevant consent letters are securely attached to it.

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