Deed Poll Legal Copy and Archive Service

If you order our Legal Copy and Archive Service™, in addition to your original Deed Poll document, you will also receive the number of legal copies you order on your application form. Legal copies (also known as certified copies) can be used in place of your original Deed Poll document for sending to government departments, companies and organisations that will not accept a photocopy of your Deed Poll (e.g. major record holders such as the Passport Office, the DVLA and the financial institutions etc). Therefore, by sending record holders a legal copy of your Deed Poll, your original Deed Poll document remains in your possession in pristine condition thus avoiding it being damaged or lost either in the post or whilst being handled by the numerous organisations you need to send it to. Furthermore, with legal copies, you can notify more than one record holder a time of your name change and not have to wait for each record holder to send your original Deed Poll back to you before you can send it to another record holder.

Please note, our legal copies are not additional prints of your unsigned Deed Poll document that we initially post to you. They are colour copies of your original, signed Deed Poll, which we certify to be true copies of your original Deed Poll document. Please see How the legal copy service works below for information about how we issue legal copies of your original, signed Deed Poll document.

Acceptance of our legal copies
At the time of writing, the only companies that do not accept legal copies are Standard Life Group and Northern Rock Building Society. These two companies always need to see original documents that relate to a customer’s identity. However, these companies will arrange for you to take your original Deed Poll to a local office so you do not need to post it to them. In addition to the above companies, if you are a British national living overseas and apply to your local British mission for a new passport, you will need to produce your original Deed Poll. However, your legal copies can be used to change your UK based documents and records. It should also be noted that some financial institutions and the General Medical Council will want to see your passport in your new name before they will recognise your new name.

How many legal copies should you order?
It is difficult for us to say how many legal copies you should order because we do not know how many major record holders you need to notify of your name change and how quickly you want to get all your documents and records changed to your new name. Most clients order four legal copies and are happy to wait until they are returned before they use them again to notify other companies and organisations. However, some clients order as many as 25 legal copies because they have a large number of record holders to notify, which they want to notify at the same time.

How the legal copy service works
Once you have executed your Deed Poll, you simply return it to us in the postage paid, card-backed envelope we provide. Upon receipt of your Deed Poll, we will issue and certify the number of legal copies you have ordered and post them to you together with your original Deed Poll within two working days. If you require your Deed Poll and legal copies to be returned to you sooner, you can upgrade to our same day Express Return service, where we will post your Deed Poll and legal copies back to you the same day we receive your Deed Poll by guaranteed next working day delivery. You can order this service on the return address slip when you send your executed Deed Poll back to us.

You may wish to order an extra legal copy and give it to a relative for safe keeping or keep it with other important documents if these are lodged with your bank or solicitor.

How the archive service works
We place a digital image of your executed Deed Poll in our archives, so you can order further legal copies at a later date. Therefore, if you lose or mislay your original Deed Poll and legal copies in the future, you can order further legal copies from us and thus avoid the need to apply and pay for a new Deed Poll.

Fees
The additional fee payable for our Legal Copy and Archive Service is £13 plus £1 for each legal copy ordered (minimum two copies). If you upgrade to our same day Express Return service, the fee for this is £10 (this service is ordered on the return address slip you complete when you return your signed Deed Poll to us).

If subsequent legal copies are ordered from our archives (i.e. at any time in the future), the fee is £12 for the first copy and £2 each for additional copies.

Delivery
Except for BPFO addresses, if the delivery address is outside the United Kingdom, an additional charge of £5 will be made. Your legal copies and original Deed Poll will be posted to you using Royal Mail’s International Signed-For service, which is an accelerated airmail service.