change of surname for an sgo child

[sharloulou]

hello, I need some advice as to how to proceed, myself and my husband have an SGO for our great-nephew and his mum has agreed to his surname change to our surname (so we all have the same surname for when he starts school soon) I'm just wondering, what do I do now? call a solicitior/ do it online? any advice would be very much appreciated, also, does the birth mother have to write and sign a letter to say she agrees to the surname change?, or does she have to go to a court in person?
thankyou

[David Roth]

Changing a child's surname can only be done with the written consent of all those with parental responsibility for the child. If your great-nephew's dad has PR, then his consent would be needed as well. If everyone with PR is willing to give written consent, then you can apply for a deed poll certificate - your great nephew would need this to show that his name had been legally changed from the name on his birth certificate, as the birth certificate itself cannot be changed. His legally correct name needs to be used when enrolling at school, or later when applying for a driving licence or opening bank accounts.

You can download the forms for a change of name by deed poll from the Ministry of Justice: https://www.gov.uk/change-name-deed-poll

However, if you want to be sure of completing the forms correctly you could use a solicitor or one of the specialist websites.

[Robin D]

The other thing to take into account is that most schools are happy to use whatever name provided the child is registered correctly. With many families today, the names can get very complex and schools recognise that children like to belong to the rest of the family so a chat to the head is likely to resolve most issues that may affect the child.

[sharloulou]

hello, thankyou for the quick responses

my great-nephews mother has limited P.R, and his biological father has no P.R at all, (mother isn't sure who it is, and social services have tried to trace who it may be, but with no luck)

thankyou David Roth for the link to the download forms

[sharloulou]

David Roth, the link for the deed poll site https://www.gov.uk/change-name-deed-poll does not work once I click on the part for the forms download, any advice what to do now?
thankyou

[Robin D]

Go straight to http://hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/H ... ms_id=2726. If that doesn't come up with the right screen, refresh it. If that doesn't work, then try a different browser.

Robin

[MK998]

Hey we had a similar arrangement, we got a deed poll for the change of name from the UK Deed Poll Service at www.changemyname.org.uk. As others have already mentioned though we needed written approval from both parents.