Lost your Deed Poll

Your name has not changed back

If you have lost your Deed Poll, your change of name still stands: it took effect when you signed, and losing the paper does not undo it. Nobody keeps a copy of an unenrolled deed, so once you have checked the usual places, the answer is a replacement, £18.50 from us and posted the same working day.

Replace it – £18.50 Where to look first

Order a replacement today and Tracked post should reach you in 1–2 working days.

All of this stays exactly as it is

Your passport and driving licence in the new name. Still valid, and nothing to reapply for.
Bank, mortgage and pension records. Already updated, and they stay updated.
Your employer, your GP and HMRC. None of them needs telling anything.
Your legal name. It belonged to you from the moment you signed, and it still does.

The only thing missing is a way to show the change to anyone who asks for proof from now on. That is worth sorting out, and it is rarely as urgent as it feels.

Before you order anything

Look in these places first

A deed that seems gone is often filed somewhere sensible. Tick each place off as you check it. Your ticks stay on this device and go nowhere else.

Where you keep important papersLook alongside birth certificates, exam results and mortgage documents. Deeds usually end up filed with them rather than thrown away.
Your inboxSearch for “deed poll”, “change of name” and your former surname. Even if the deed is not there, an order email shows who made it.
The people who witnessed itA solicitor or notary may have kept a copy for their records, and a friend who signed as a witness may have been handed one.
Your employer’s personnel fileIf you gave them a copy when your name changed, there is a good chance it was kept.
Boxes from your last movePapers that made it to the new house often never made it out of the box.

If it has gone

Two ways forward

If the deed has not turned up, it comes down to these.

Worth one call
Contact whoever made it

If you remember which service made the original and it is still in business, contact them first: some keep records and can issue another, often for a charge. A solicitor will usually bill for the time spent finding and reprinting it.

Plenty of small providers have since shut down, and some websites stay online long after anyone stopped replying to them. If the name escapes you, look at your bank or card statement from that month: the payment usually shows who you paid.
What most people do
Order a replacement

A fresh Deed Poll that records your existing change of name and when it happened. £18.50 for an adult or a child, hand-drafted by a paralegal and posted the same working day.

We can replace a deed whoever made the first one and however long ago it was, and you do not need the original to hand.
Our replacement service

Why it cannot be retrieved

There is no copy to retrieve

Deed Polls are not issued by any government department, and unenrolled ones are not recorded anywhere. The Deed Poll Office at the Royal Courts of Justice only handles deeds that have been enrolled, so no one has a copy of yours on file. Can I get a replacement from GOV.UK? Nor is there a national serial number to trace it by: does a Deed Poll have one?

An organisation you once sent it to might still have a copy in your records. You can ask, but most will say no, because they keep it for their own records rather than for you.

The upside is that replacing it is a drafting job and nothing more. There is no application to any body, no waiting list, and nothing to prove before it can be done.

Up against a deadline?

When a replacement would reach you

Replacements are drafted, checked and posted the working day you order. These are the Royal Mail dates for an order placed today.

Something already booked in? Ask a paralegal before you order, and we will tell you honestly whether it will arrive in time.

Lost your driving licence too, before DVLA had your new name? One form replaces the licence and records the change, with a replacement deed as the proof: a lost licence and a new name.

Next time

Keeping it safe next time

Send certified copies, not the deed

Organisations take one in place of the deed. Two cost £6 and twenty cost £25.

How copies work

Never post the original

Some organisations file what you send them and keep it.

Give a witness a copy

Then there is one outside your house if anything happens to yours.

Store it flat and dry

If a deed cannot be read, organisations turn it away just as they would a missing one.

Keeping it safe

Questions & answers

About a lost Deed Poll

Will the replacement look like my original?

Not necessarily, and it does not need to. It is a new deed in its own right, drafted in our wording on our certificate paper, recording the same change and the date you made it. How a replacement works.

Can I replace a child’s Deed Poll?

Yes. A parent applies, and the replacement records the change of name made for the child and the date it was made.

Do I need to tell anyone that I have lost it?

No. Your name has not changed, so there is nothing to report. You only need the replacement for the next organisation that asks you to prove the change.

Something else? Ask a paralegal and we will answer, usually the same working day.

Keep reading

Want to replace it today?

Apply online in about five minutes. Your replacement Deed Poll is drafted, checked and posted the same working day, and guaranteed to be accepted.

Apply online – £18.50 Ask a paralegal

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