Declarations For Sole Parental Responsibility

If you are a mother with sole parental responsibility, your child’s Deed Poll document will include a declaration confirming you are entitled to change your child’s name without anyone else’s consent.

The wording of your declaration will depend upon where and when your child’s birth was registered (the date your child’s birth was registered at a register office, not the date of birth). This variation is because parental responsibility laws vary throughout the United Kingdom. If you are the father and you believe you have sole parental responsibility (and the mother is not deceased), please call our Helpline or email  us with your circumstances.

List of declarations

If your child’s birth was registered in ENGLAND or WALES (from 1st December 2003):

You have sole parental responsibility by virtue of not being married to your child’s father at birth, or subsequently, and no other person has acquired parental responsibility by agreement or by court order and the father is not recorded on your child’s birth certificate.

If your child’s birth was registered in ENGLAND or WALES (before 1st December 2003):

You have sole parental responsibility by virtue of not being married to your child’s father at birth, or subsequently, and no other person has acquired parental responsibility by agreement or by court order.

If your child’s birth was registered in SCOTLAND (from 4th May 2006):

You have sole parental responsibility by virtue of not being married to your child’s father at the time of conception, or subsequently, and no other person has acquired parental responsibility by agreement or by court order and the father is not recorded on your child’s birth certificate.

If your child’s birth was registered in SCOTLAND (before 4th May 2006):

You have sole parental responsibility by virtue of not being married to your child’s father at the time of conception, or subsequently, and no other person has acquired parental responsibility by agreement or by court order.

If your child’s birth was registered in NORTHERN IRELAND:

You have sole parental responsibility by virtue of not being married to your child’s father at birth, or subsequently (see note below), and no other person has acquired parental responsibility by agreement or by court order and the father is not recorded on your child’s birth certificate.

Note for marriage to father subsequent to the birth in Northern Ireland:

You have sole parental responsibility if, when you married the father, the father’s domicile was not in Northern Ireland.

If your child’s birth was registered in the ISLE OF MAN (from 1st November 2013):

You have sole parental responsibility by virtue of not being married to your child’s father at birth, or subsequently, and no other person has acquired parental responsibility by agreement or by court order and the father is not recorded on your child’s birth certificate.

If your child’s birth was registered in the ISLE OF MAN (before 1st November 2013):

You have sole parental responsibility by virtue of not being married to your child’s father at birth, or subsequently, and no other person has acquired parental responsibility by agreement or by court order.

If your child’s birth was registered in the BAILIWICK OF JERSEY

You have sole parental responsibility by virtue of not being married to your child’s father at birth and no other person has acquired parental responsibility by agreement or by court order.

If your child’s birth was registered in the BAILIWICK OF GUERNSEY

You have sole parental responsibility by virtue of not being married to your child’s father at birth, or subsequently, and no other person has acquired parental responsibility by agreement or by court order.