Help & advice
Deed Poll witness requirements, and how to sign
A witness must be 18 or over, know you, and be independent of you: not a relative, not your partner and not anyone who lives at your address. They watch you sign, then sign the deed themselves and add their name, home address and occupation. Your Deed Poll has space for two witnesses, and we recommend using both.
- 18 or over on the day they sign
- Independent of you: not a relative, not your partner, and not someone who lives with you
- Knows you, long enough to know you by your old name
- Lives in the UK, if you do
Can they be my witness?
Every kind of person, with the answer.
YesA friend
As long as they are 18 or over, have known you long enough to know you by your old name, and live in the UK if you do.
YesA neighbour
On the same terms as a friend, provided they live at a different address. The neighbour you have known for ten years is a good choice.
YesSomeone you work with
18 or over, knows you by your old name, and lives in the UK if you do. Someone at work is often the easiest person to ask.
YesYour GP, an accountant or another professional
Provided they know you and are independent of you. Their job adds nothing to the deed, so there is no reason to go out of your way to find one.
YesA solicitor
But you do not need one. In HM Passport Office’s own guidance, a deed poll witness need not be a solicitor, nor a commissioner for oaths.
NoYour husband, wife or partner
They are not independent of you. A witness has to be someone who gains nothing from your name change.
NoA parent, a child, a brother or a sister
Anyone related to you is ruled out, however well they know you.
NoAn in-law or any other relative
Family by marriage is still family here. A friend, a neighbour or a colleague is the safer choice.
NoSomeone who lives at your address
Not even if they are not related to you. A housemate or a lodger shares your address, and that is enough to rule them out.
NoSomeone under 18
Each witness must be 18 or over on the day they sign.
NoYou
You cannot witness your own deed. Someone else has to watch you sign.
One sitting, in this order
Your Deed Poll has a marked space for every signature, including one for each of your two witnesses. Work through them in one go, with both witnesses in the room. See where each one is on ours, or rehearse the signing on our deed before the day.
Deed Poll
Signed as a deed
In your new name
Alex Sample
In your old name
Alex Example
Witnessed by
First witness
Second witness
Each adds their name, address and occupation
-
How you will sign from today, beside your new name. If it looks much like your old signature, that is fine: what counts is a signature in each place.
-
Your usual signature, the one your bank already knows, beside the name you are giving up.
-
Write today’s date as you sign, not one from earlier or later in the week. From that day, the new name is legally yours.
-
Each sees you sign, then signs their own space and fills in their name, home address and occupation. Both must be there in person: a video call does not count, and nor does signing afterwards.
Select any signature on the paper, or any line of this list.
Anything else in the envelope with signature lines on it is signed the same way at the same sitting, so every document carries the same signatures and date.
What each witness writes
Straight after you sign, each witness fills in their own space on the deed. It takes a minute, and it is what lets anyone reading the deed see who watched you sign.
- Their signature
- Their everyday signature, made while you watch, just as they watched you.
- Their full name
- Written out clearly, so it can be read beside the signature.
- Their home address
- Where they live now, in full. GOV.UK’s own model wording for a deed names each witness together with their address.
- Their occupation
- Simply what they do: their job, or retired, or a student. No job is better than another here, and there is no approved list.
Signed in the presence of
- Signature
- Full name
- Sam Taylor
- Home address
- Their own address in full, with the postcode
- Occupation
- Pharmacist
Why the witness signatures matter
They make it a deed. The Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989 treats a signature as executing a deed only when it is made in front of a witness who attests it. Without that, the paper is not a deed at all. What it does not need is a stamp or a seal: why a Deed Poll needs neither.
They are checked. HM Passport Office’s caseworker guidance tells its staff to ask for a new deed poll when one has not been witnessed or dated, or was not signed by hand in both the old and the new name.
Who signs counts too. GOV.UK warns that some organisations turn down a deed poll when a witness is a close relative or lives at the same address. Two independent witnesses take that question off the table.
What HM Passport Office looks for
- Signed in your old name
- Signed in your new name
- Signed by hand, in ink
- Witnessed
- Dated
From Names: evidence to change a name, HM Passport Office, version 28.0.
From the moment it is signed, it is your legal name
No waiting period
Not when your bank accepts it, and not when the new passport arrives. The name is legal as soon as you and your witnesses have signed and dated it.
Nothing to send back
There is nothing to return to us and nowhere to file it. The signed deed is the evidence.
Keep the original safe
No register of Deed Polls exists and nobody else holds a copy of yours, so put it somewhere you will find it again. How to store it.
From then on the work is telling people rather than law, at whatever pace each organisation holding your records sets. Who to tell, and in what order.
Witness questions, answered
What are the witness requirements for a Deed Poll in the UK?
Each witness must be 18 or over, know you, and be independent of you: not a relative, not your partner and not someone who lives at your address. They need to be in the room when you sign, and then they sign the deed themselves and add their name, home address and occupation. Your Deed Poll has space for two witnesses, and we recommend using both.
Do I need two witnesses?
We recommend two, and your Deed Poll has a space for each. GOV.UK’s own wording for a deed poll names two witnesses as well. The law asks for at least one when you sign a deed yourself (the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989, section 1(3)), so a deed signed in front of one is still valid. If you can ask two people, do.
Can a relative witness my Deed Poll?
No. We ask for witnesses who are not related to you at all, by birth or by marriage. GOV.UK cautions that a deed poll witnessed by a close relative can be refused by some organisations, and keeping every relative off it means the question never comes up.
Can someone who lives at my address be a witness?
No, even if they are not family. GOV.UK says some organisations refuse a deed poll when a witness lives at the same address, so a housemate, a lodger or a partner you live with should not sign as a witness. A neighbour from another house is fine.
Can a solicitor witness my Deed Poll?
Yes, if you like, but there is no need to. In HM Passport Office’s caseworker guidance, a deed poll witness need not be a solicitor, nor a commissioner for oaths, and GOV.UK says you can make an unenrolled deed poll yourself. A solicitor or notary comes in only for other jobs: certifying a deed that is going abroad, or the statutory declaration that goes with court enrolment. Using a Deed Poll abroad.
Can my GP or another professional be my witness?
Yes, provided they are independent of you and know you by your old name. Their title gives the deed no extra standing, though, so a neighbour or a colleague who has known you for years is every bit as good.
Does my witness need to have full mental capacity?
Yes, in the sense that they must be able to make their own decisions. Everyone is taken to have that capacity unless the opposite is shown, so for almost everyone it is not something to check.
I want to use my Deed Poll abroad. What then?
Some foreign authorities ask for a Deed Poll to be notarised. That is a separate job, done by a notary public rather than a witness, and at a higher fee. What a notary public does.
Who signs a child’s Deed Poll?
The parent with parental responsibility signs it for the child, in front of two independent adult witnesses. When both parents hold parental responsibility, our deed names both of them and each one signs. The child does not sign. From 16, a young person signs an Adult Deed Poll themselves, in front of their own witnesses.
Something else? Ask a paralegal and we will answer, usually the same working day.
Ready to change your name?
Apply online in about five minutes. Your Deed Poll is drafted, checked and dispatched the same working day, and guaranteed to be accepted.
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