For a partner, parent, child or friend

Ordering a Deed Poll for someone else

You can order and pay for someone else’s Deed Poll, but you cannot sign it for them. At our checkout, “your current legal name” means theirs: put in their names, choose whose email gets the confirmation and signing guide, and choose where it is posted. The new name starts only when they sign it in front of two witnesses, or, for a child under 16, when a parent with parental responsibility does.

Who is it for? Apply online – £18.50

Any card can pay
Posted to you or to them
£18.50 for each person

A woman in her thirties with long box braids and a sage green jumper, one hand on an open laptop, turning to smile at her father, a man in his seventies with short white hair and a burgundy cardigan, who holds a mug and smiles back, with a pale green Deed Poll on the table in front of them

Your order, their words

Our Adult Deed Poll is written in the first person. It opens “By this Deed I the undersigned”, followed by the current name of the person changing it, and they sign it twice, in the new name and the old. So you can take care of everything up to the pen, while the decision and the signature stay theirs. For a child under 16 the deed is made by a parent with parental responsibility. Each person needs a deed of their own, at £18.50 each.

Who is it for?

Whose details go where, and who signs

Choose who you are ordering for and where it should be posted. The answer follows our checkout box by box.

Who are you ordering for?

Every case, with its answer:

A child under 16

The Child Deed Poll, £18.50

A parent with parental responsibility fills it in and signs

Email: The parent who will sign. Every email greets the parents named on the order, and the signing guide is written for them
Names: The child’s current legal name and new name, then who has parental responsibility, mother, father or both, with their names
Born in the UK?: Where the child was born: it sets one line of the deed’s wording
Delivery: Posted to them: The family’s address, with the parcel addressed to the parents named on the order
Delivery: Posted to you: Your address. The parcel is still addressed to the parents named on the order
On the deed: Posted to them: “Same as my delivery address”. The deed calls the child “a minor of” that address
On the deed: Posted to you: Choose “A different address” and give the child’s home, or the deed calls the child “a minor of” yours
Payment: Anyone can pay, a grandparent included

Who signs: the parent or parents named on the deed, with everyone who holds parental responsibility agreeing, and two adult witnesses.

Start the Child Deed Poll Who has to agree

Someone aged 16 or 17

The Adult Deed Poll, £18.50

The Adult Deed Poll, filled in with them

Email: Theirs, or yours if you are helping. Every email greets them by their new first name
Names: Their current legal name, as on their birth certificate, and the new name they have chosen
Born in the UK?: Where they were born: it sets one line of the deed’s wording
Delivery: Posted to them: Their address, with the parcel in their current name
Delivery: Posted to you: Your address. The parcel still carries their current name
On the deed: Posted to them: “Same as my delivery address”
On the deed: Posted to you: If they live elsewhere, choose “A different address” and give theirs
Payment: A parent can pay. That does not make it the parent’s to sign

Who signs: they do, in front of two adult witnesses. No parent signs for them or has to agree, unless a court order about them says otherwise.

Start the Adult Deed Poll A Deed Poll at 16 or 17

An adult who will sign it

The Adult Deed Poll, £18.50

Their names, any card, their signature

Email: Whoever should get the confirmation and signing guide. Every email greets them by their new first name
Names: Their current legal name, as on their birth certificate or last Deed Poll, and the new name spelled their way
Born in the UK?: Where they were born: it sets one line of the deed’s wording
Delivery: Posted to them: Their address, with the parcel in their current name
Delivery: Posted to you: Your address. The parcel still carries their current name
On the deed: Posted to them: “Same as my delivery address”
On the deed: Posted to you: If they live elsewhere, choose “A different address” and give theirs, or the deed puts them at yours
Payment: Any card or wallet: nothing at the checkout asks whose it is

Who signs: they do, twice, in front of two adult witnesses who are not related to them and do not live with them.

Start the Adult Deed Poll Where they sign

An adult who cannot write their name

Ask us before you order

The law allows for it: tell us what is needed first

The Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989 counts making a mark as signing, and lets someone else sign a deed at the person’s direction and in their presence, with two witnesses who each attest it. Our deed is laid out for the usual way, so ask before ordering and a paralegal will say how we would approach it.

Then: The order is filled in as for any adult: their names, where they were born, and the addresses you choose
Payment: Any card or wallet

Who signs: they do, by a mark of their own, or someone signs at their direction while they are there, with two witnesses present.

Ask a paralegal Signing when you cannot write

An adult who cannot make the decision

Please do not order yet

The decision has to be theirs

Our deed is the person’s own declaration, and our terms ask that they understand the change and are able to make it. So we cannot draft one for someone who cannot make that decision, on anyone else’s word.

If you act for them under a power of attorney or a court order, tell us before ordering: our terms say a Deed Poll may not be the right instrument. The Deed Polls Online handbook, our sister site, explains what an attorney or deputy should do first.

Ask us first Our terms, section 4

Two addresses

The address on the envelope, and the one on the deed

Our checkout asks for both on one page: where we post it, and the address the deed states in its opening words. They are the same unless you choose otherwise, which matters when you post it to yourself.

The envelope. We post to the delivery address, and the parcel is addressed to the person whose name is changing, in their current name, wherever it goes. For a child, it is addressed to the parents named on the order.

The deed. Its opening words state an address, and, as the checkout puts it, “anyone you show it to will see it”. Choose “Same as my delivery address”, or “A different address” to print another while the post still goes to the delivery address.

Posting it to yourself? With “Same as my delivery address”, the deed would give your address after their name. If they live somewhere else, choose “A different address” and give theirs. The checkout shows how the opening words will read as you type.

One email address

Every email goes to the address you give

The checkout asks for one email address, “so we can send your order confirmation and updates”, and everything about the order goes there. The emails greet the person whose name is changing by their new first name, or for a child, the parents named on the order.

Give theirs if they will look after the rest themselves. Give yours if you are handling it, or if it is a surprise, and pass the signing guide on when you hand the deed over.

Keeping it a surprise? Use your own email. Once you move past the email box, the checkout saves the order so far, and if it is not paid, reminders go to that address.

The mobile number is optional. The checkout gives it to Royal Mail with the parcel, so give the number of whoever will be at the delivery address.

Your order confirmationWhen the order is paid, with the reference, both names and what is included.
How to sign the deedAn hour or two after payment: the signing steps, written for whoever signs.
Who to tellSent with it, on putting the new name to use.
PostedWhen it leaves us, the same working day.
TrackingFor Tracked and Tracked & Signed orders, with the Royal Mail tracking number.

A cream envelope tied with a coral ribbon bow beside a pale green Deed Poll standing in a second, open envelope, with a sprig of small white flowers on a wooden table

As a present

Giving a Deed Poll as a present

A wedding present for a partner taking a new surname, a birthday present for someone who has talked about a new name for years: it works, because nothing changes until they sign. Ours says they take the new name “from today”, meaning the day they sign it, so until then it is only paper.

Get the names exactly right. Their current legal name as their birth certificate or last Deed Poll shows it, and the new name spelled the way they want it. Not sure? Ask, or do not order in secret.
Know where they were born. The checkout asks whether it was in the UK, for one line of the wording.
Post it to yourself, with your own email, and the address on the deed set to theirs if they live elsewhere.
Our letter inside is for them. It is addressed to them in their current name and greets them by their new one.
A board-backed envelope, £1.99 at the checkout, keeps the deed flat until it is handed over.

Then they choose two witnesses and sign it, and the new name is theirs from that day. Who can witness it.

The one thing you cannot do for them

Who signs, case by case

Paying, filling in the order and choosing the post are all yours to do. Signing never is.

16 and over

The person themselves

GOV.UK says anyone of 16 or over can make a Deed Poll themselves. They sign in the new name and the old, with two witnesses aged 18 or over watching.

Where they sign

Under 16

A parent with parental responsibility

Our Child Deed Poll is made and signed by the parent or parents named on it, and everyone who holds parental responsibility must agree. A grandparent or anyone else can pay for it.

The Child Deed Poll

Cannot write

A mark, or a signature at their direction

Section 1 of the 1989 Act counts a mark as signing, and allows a signature made for them, at their direction and in their presence, before two witnesses who each attest it.

How that works

Cannot decide

Ask us before anything is ordered

Our terms ask that the person understands the change and can make it, and that anyone acting under a power of attorney or court order tells us first.

Ask a paralegal

From GOV.UK’s change your name by deed poll and the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989, section 1, checked November 2026, with our own terms, whose section 4 sets out what you confirm when you order for someone else. A whole family changing together? Each person still has a deed of their own, signed as above.

Questions & answers

Ordering for someone else, answered

Can I buy a Deed Poll for someone else?

Yes. Order it with their details, pay with any card, and choose whether it is posted to you or to them. You cannot sign it for them: an adult or a 16 or 17 year old signs their own in front of two witnesses, and a child's is signed by a parent with parental responsibility. Who it is for.

Whose name goes in "your current legal name" at the checkout?

The name of the person whose name is changing, as their birth certificate or last Deed Poll shows it, and then the new name they have chosen. Your own name goes nowhere on an adult order. On a child's order, the parents with parental responsibility are named in a step of their own.

Can the Deed Poll be posted to my address instead of theirs?

Yes. The parcel is still addressed to them in their current name. The deed states an address in its opening words, which is the delivery address unless you choose "A different address" at the checkout, so if they live elsewhere, give theirs there. The two addresses.

Can I sign a Deed Poll on someone else's behalf?

Only in two cases. A parent with parental responsibility signs a child's Deed Poll. And where an adult cannot write, the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989 lets someone sign at their direction and in their presence, before two witnesses: ask us before ordering. We cannot draft one for an adult who cannot make the decision themselves.

Can I order a replacement Deed Poll for my mother or father?

Yes, in the same way: choose Replacement Deed Poll at the adult checkout and give their names and details. A replacement is a fresh deed confirming the change, so they sign it themselves in front of two witnesses, just as they did the first time. The Replacement Deed Poll.

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

Keep reading

Ready to order it for them?

Apply online in about five minutes with their names to hand. A paralegal drafts the Deed Poll, quality control checks it, and it is posted the same working day to whichever address you choose.

Apply online – £18.50 Ask a paralegal

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