I-Do change my name

by Tina Clough, 18 February 2009.

Figures launched today by name change specialists, The Legal Deed Service has found an increasing number of couples are opting out of tying the knot in favour of changing their name and title by deed poll to that of their current partner.

Chief executive of The Legal Deed Service, Jamie Jackson said, "We are getting so many people contacting us to change their name to that of their current partner and snubbing marriage altogether! It seems to be a mixture of the added expense of a wedding and lack of commitment that is seeing this new trend - it is a major indication of the state of marriage in the UK in today's society."

The new report has found that since April, applications made to The Legal Deed Service for their innovative title change service, is up by 75 per-cent.

Mr Jackson, whose online service costs just over £10 for a standard adult name change and just £11.50 to change a child's name, said, "Our theory is that couples who were planning to get married before the credit crunch are finding it increasingly difficult to pay for their dream wedding. As a result they are opting for our name change service as a more cost effective alternative."

As well as changing your surname to that of your partner people are contacting The Legal Deed Service to change their title from Miss to Mrs. 

Angela Yates, from Kent has recently put in an application with The Legal Deed Service to change her name to that of her partner after having two small children, she said, "I wanted to change my name to Mrs Angela Childs, so that my two children had the same name when they went to school."

Angela added, "I wouldn't want a big white wedding anyway but financially it is an issue, we have thought about marriage but when people get married these days it seems to ruin everything. I would recommend a name change to anyone in the same position, me and my partner consider ourselves to be married anyway."

Figures released in March this year show that in 2006 marriage rates in England and Wales have fallen to the lowest level since records began, a reduction of four per-cent. In the current crisis, experts are estimating that when the figures are released for 2008, this will fall even further.

Jamie Jackson whose offices are in London and Shropshire, added, "With the average cost of a wedding being around £11,000 the current economic crisis is a huge hurdle for many couples wanting to embark on married life. To be honest I think many couples are reluctant to tie the knot because of the increasing divorce rates experienced today."

Mr Jackson added, "We have also had 84 applications since the end of September from people who are starting divorce proceedings and want to change their name back from Mrs to Miss. It seems most women just can't wait for their divorce proceedings to become finalised and are changing their name back to their maiden name."

Text: © 2009, The Legal Deed Service Ltd.

This page was last updated: 28th April 2009