Unenrolled
No government body files a copy and there is no register to search. If you chose SafeKeep, we hold a record of your deed’s details for ten years, but that is our own record, not a public one.
Storing your Deed Poll
Keeping your Deed Poll safe
Keep the original flat and dry in a folder or document box at home, away from damp and strong light, and do not laminate it. Send certified copies wherever they are accepted, so the original only leaves the house when it must. A Deed Poll never expires, but no register holds a copy of an unenrolled one, so the paper you keep is the record.
- It never expires
- SafeKeep, £4.99 once
- Certified copies from £6
At home
How to store the original
The aim is simple: every name, date and signature on it should still be easy to read the next time someone asks to see it, whether that is next month or in twenty years.
-
Do
Keep it flat
In a card folder, a document wallet or the board-backed envelope it came in, if you chose one. HM Passport Office’s guidance on damaged documents accepts ordinary wear, but looks for folds, tears or lines running through the details.
-
Do
Keep it dry and out of the light
A drawer, a filing box or a cupboard indoors, rather than a damp loft, garage or cellar, or a sunny windowsill.
-
Do
File it with your other papers
Beside your birth or marriage certificate and your passport, so anyone looking for one finds them all, and tell someone you trust where they are.
-
Do not
Laminate it
It feels protective, but GOV.UK tells drivers not to send DVLA laminated certificates, and HM Passport Office says it does not usually accept laminated documents. Plastic cannot be peeled off again.
-
Do not
Add anything to the paper
No staples, punched holes, sticky notes or writing on it. Anything new on a signed deed invites the question of whether it has been altered.
-
Do not
Post it where a copy will do
Every trip through the post is a chance to lose it, and some organisations file what they are sent. Copies are cheaper to replace than the deed.
Out in the world
Let certified copies do the travelling
HM Passport Office and DVLA each ask for the Deed Poll itself, so the original goes to them. Many other organisations, from banks to pension providers, accept a certified copy in place of the original. Send those a copy and the original stays in its folder.
Our certified copies, priced from £6 for 2, up to £25 for 20, are added at the checkout and come certified as true copies of your Deed Poll. How certified copies work.
The short answer
Do Deed Polls expire?
No. A Deed Poll has no end date. It records a change you made on the day you signed it, and it stays evidence of that change for as long as you keep it readable.
HM Passport Office’s caseworker guidance lists what makes an unenrolled deed acceptable: signed in both the old and new names, witnessed, signed by hand, dated and genuine. Nothing on that list wears out with age, and moving house does not change it.
The same guidance does set a 12-month limit, but on something else: the documents that show you are using the new name, such as a bank statement or a letter from your employer.
When you would need a new one
- It is lost, or an organisation kept it
- It is so damaged that the names or the date cannot be read
- You change your name again, which needs a Deed Poll of its own
Records
Where are Deed Poll records kept?
For almost everyone, nowhere but the paper you signed. Only a deed enrolled with the High Court goes on a public record.
Enrolled at the High Court
Held by the Royal Courts of Justice, with a notice published in The Gazette that anyone can search.
Older enrolments
In the enrolment books kept by The National Archives at Kew, which can search its indexes and, for a fee, supply a copy.
Our optional extra
SafeKeep: a record of your deed, held for ten years
Because no one else keeps a copy of an unenrolled Deed Poll, we offer to. With SafeKeep we hold a secure record of your deed’s details for ten years, so if the original goes missing, or you need more certified copies, we can issue them from that record at 25% off.
- How to use it
- Email support@deedpolls.org using the email address on your order, give us the order reference (printed top right on your deed), and tell us whether it is a replacement or more copies you are after. Once we have confirmed the details with you, they are posted the same working day.
- Not a register
- Nothing is published and nothing is enrolled, and your Deed Poll is exactly as valid without SafeKeep. It sits alongside looking after the original, rather than replacing that.
- When to add it
- It is offered at the checkout when you order your Deed Poll. Without it, a replacement is still available at the usual £18.50.
Questions & answers
Storing your Deed Poll, answered
Do Deed Polls expire?
No. A Deed Poll has no expiry date and stays evidence of your change of name however old it is. HM Passport Office’s caseworker guidance asks for an unenrolled deed to be signed in both names, witnessed, signed by hand and dated, and puts no age limit on it. You only need a new one if it is lost, damaged beyond reading, or you change your name again.
How should I store my Deed Poll?
Flat, in a folder, a document wallet or the board-backed envelope it came in, somewhere dry and out of strong light, and filed with your other important papers. Do not laminate it, staple it or write on it, and send certified copies wherever they are accepted so the original stays at home.
Can I laminate my Deed Poll?
Please do not. GOV.UK tells drivers not to send DVLA laminated certificates, and HM Passport Office says it does not usually accept laminated documents, because the plastic makes them harder to check. Lamination cannot be undone, so keep the deed in a folder instead.
Where are Deed Poll records kept?
For an unenrolled Deed Poll, which is almost every one, there is no public record: the paper you signed is the record. An enrolled deed is held by the Royal Courts of Justice if it was enrolled since the end of 2003, or by The National Archives if it was enrolled before then, and enrolment also puts a notice in The Gazette.
Should I send my original Deed Poll to organisations?
Only to those that insist on it. HM Passport Office and DVLA ask for the Deed Poll itself, while many others, banks and pension providers among them, accept a certified copy in place of the original. Our certified copies are added at the checkout: two cost £6, and twenty cost £25.
What is SafeKeep?
An optional extra at our checkout, £4.99 paid once. We keep a secure record of your Deed Poll’s details for ten years, so a replacement or more certified copies can be issued from it at 25% off. It is not a register and nothing is published, and there is no renewal.
How do I use SafeKeep?
Email support@deedpolls.org using the email address on your order, give us the order reference, and say whether it is a replacement Deed Poll or more certified copies you are after. Once we have confirmed the details with you, they are posted at 25% off, the same working day.
What if my Deed Poll is damaged?
Ordinary wear is fine while every name, date and signature can still be read. HM Passport Office’s guidance on damaged documents looks for folds, tears or lines through the details, and may ask for a replacement. If yours is hard to read, a replacement from us is £18.50, posted the same working day.
Something else? Ask a paralegal and we will answer, usually the same working day.
Keep reading
Related answers
I have lost my Deed PollWhat to do first, and why you do not change your name again.Read this Getting a copy of your Deed PollCertified copies from £6 for two, and who accepts them.Read this A replacement from GOV.UK?What the government keeps, what its free wording can do, and copies of enrolled deeds.Read this
Need a Deed Poll, or a replacement?
Apply online in about five minutes. Hand-drafted, checked and posted the same working day, guaranteed to be accepted, with SafeKeep and certified copies offered at the checkout.
Secure checkout · card, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Klarna
