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Can I change my child's name?
Changing a child's name by Deed Poll is simple, providing everyone with 'parental responsibility' has given their consent. For the purposes of changing a child's name, a child is defined as a young person who is aged 15 or younger.
This guide will help you to understand the meaning of 'parental responsibility' and determine who has parental responsibility for your child.
Please note: that you can skip the entire guide if you take the Parental Responsibility Test by clicking here. The PR test will confirm exactly what you must do in order to change your child's name by Deed Poll.
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Subjects covered in this guide
- Can I change my child's name?
- What is parental responsibility?
- Who has parental responsibility?
- Does an unmarried father have parental responsibility?
- How may an unmarried father acquire parental responsibility?
- Can step fathers acquire parental responsibility?
- Can foster carers acquire parental responsibility?
- Can family and friend carers acquire parental responsibility?
- Do absent fathers still have parental responsibility?
- Can I change a child's surname if the fathers whereabouts are unknown?
- Can I change a child's forenames if the fathers whereabouts are unknown?
- What if the whereabouts of the absent father are known?
- What happens in cases where the mother is absent?
- Can a child's name be changed if the legal father is not the biological father?
- How can someone lose parental responsibility?
- What is the difference between 'sole custody' and 'sole parental responsibility'?
- Can a child's name be changed without the consent of the other parent?
- Applying for a court order to change a child's name by Deed Poll
- Changing a child's birth certificate
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This page was last checked today by Miranda O'Hara, Senior Deed Poll Officer.


