When Your Name Isn't the Same on Every Document

It is a statutory declaration in which you state, on oath, that the different versions of your name appearing on your documents all refer to one and the same person. It is often called a "one and the same person" declaration. It does not change your name and it does not create a new one, it explains the versions that already exist. Our full guide covers when you need one and what it must say.

No. Nothing is renounced, nothing is abandoned and no new name is adopted. That is the whole difference between this and a deed poll. If you genuinely changed your name at some point in the past, a declaration confirming everything is one person is the wrong document: you need a retrospective deed poll instead. And if you want to change your name now, that is a deed poll rather than a declaration: an adult deed poll, or a child deed poll for a child under 16.

Any solicitor or commissioner for oaths in England and Wales. There are no witnesses involved: a declaration is sworn in front of one of those officers, not signed in front of a friend. A notary is only needed if the declaration is going overseas.

The statutory fee is £5 per declaration, inclusive of VAT where payable, fixed by law, so it is the same wherever you go. Your documents are described in the declaration rather than produced with it, so no further statutory fee arises. Some firms add an administration charge of their own on top, so budget from £5. We break the whole cost down in what a statutory declaration costs in the UK.

Because administering an oath is a reserved legal activity under the Legal Services Act 2007, and we are a document service, not a person authorised to carry it out. Many drafting firms also choose not to swear what they drafted. The swearing fee itself is fixed by law at £5 per declaration, whoever takes it.

Most free statutory declaration templates online are name-change declarations. They are built on renunciation wording, absolutely renouncing and abandoning a former name, which is the opposite of what you need. Swear one of those to explain a spelling difference and you have sworn that you changed your name, when you didn't. That is the honest reason to have this one drafted properly rather than downloaded.

So you're never left stuck: one to swear and hand over, and a spare if the first goes astray or a second organisation wants its own. Each original has to be sworn separately in front of the commissioner, so a second sworn copy means a second statutory fee, which is why we include two originals rather than selling you a stack of copies you would have to pay to swear.

That is their decision, and we won't promise you otherwise. What we can do is draft to what they've asked for: if you've been given wording, a form or a checklist, send it to us and the declaration will follow it. If you've simply been told "the names don't match", tell us who asked and what they saw, and we'll say whether this is the document that answers it.

Online ordering opens shortly. The order form asks for the exact spellings on each document and what the declaration is for, and it stops the order where a declaration is the wrong instrument (for example, a foreign-issued document you need HM Passport Office to accept). If you need one before then, contact us and we'll arrange it.