Free Deed Poll

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Get yourself a free Deed Poll now! – easily change your name within the next ten minutes, if you’re a British citizen of at least 18 years of age.
Browse the source code

About the project When I changed my name back in 2007, I did it the wrong way. My name ended up changed, so I didn’t go too-far wrong, but I paid for the service from one of the premium Deed Poll companies, who charge you £30 or more to do what you can basically do for yourself. It’s not an extortionate fee, but it is a rip-off. These companies get you to fill in a web form, then they print out a template response and post it to you. They scam people with strong SEO techniques and liberal use of the word “official” plastered around their websites. Once I learned better (and after I’d helped a few friends to successfully change their names using home-made Deed Polls) and done a little research, I realised that there were several free guides, online, to making your own Deed Poll. But the only wizard-driven service I could find was riddled with advertisements, required that you give them your email address, and delivered password-protected documents. That’s when I realised that I could do something better. Use Just go to www.freedeedpoll.org.uk and fill in the form to generate yourself a free Deed Poll document. Sign it (in both your new and old names), have your witnesses sign it, and you’re done: you have a brand new, legally-recognised name. The website also has tips on the laws regarding the names you can choose and on who you need to inform once you’ve changed your name. Open Source Because I’m passionate about open-source software, I’ve released the entire source code for this project – you can get it here, on GitHub. It’s developed using Sinatra, an awesome (and lightweight) web framework for Ruby. Prawn, the majestic sea creature of PDF generation, is used to generate the resulting Deed Poll. I hope that by releasing this project and its source code “into the wild” that I’ll be able to enable others to:

Legally change their names simply and without cost, as is the right of every British adult.
Learn to develop web applications using Ruby and Sinatra.
Raise awareness about how easy it is to change one’s name, in order to undermine the greedy scam artists who sell little more than a piece of pretty paper for an insane premium.

If you enjoy this tool, please get in touch and let me know. License This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.

16 Responses to "Free Deed Poll"

By Free Deed Poll Generator | 3 February, 2011 - 09:03

[...] Auth in RailsPicInHTML – Hiding In Plain “Site”Mobile One-Time-Passwords in RubyFree Deed PollsAboutOld OKCupid ProfilesContactContact FormGPG KeyInstant Messengers Search [...]

By steve skelton 8 February, 2013 - 01:29

every time i try and save or open the generated deed poll all i get is a long stream of code NO DEED POLL.
Reply
- By Scatman Dan 8 February, 2013 - 11:39
  
  Sorry you’re having difficulty. It sounds likely that your web browser is not correctly-configured to show a PDF file, and so it’s rendering the PDF file’s internal code right out into your browser window.
  
  Could you try using a different web browser? Meanwhile, I’ll look into a way of making the tool a bit smarter to help people in your position better in future.
  Reply

By On This Day In 2011 | Scatmania 3 February, 2012 - 12:01

[...] Auth in RailsPicInHTML – Hiding In Plain “Site”Mobile One-Time-Passwords in RubyFree Deed PollsAboutPolyamoryEarthlingsVolunteeringOld OKCupid ProfilesContactContact FormGPG KeyInstant Messengers [...]

By 4 Things You Should Do When Writing A Will (Which My Dad Didn’t) | Scatmania 31 August, 2012 - 14:08

[...] Free Deed Poll [...]

By Craig 1 December, 2012 - 19:27

http://www.squidoo.com/change-your-name

For an overview of all the available methods to legally change your name.

By Jordie 9 December, 2012 - 22:32

Cool, thats a great help, rest of site good tok!
Reply
By MrjDanger 13 December, 2012 - 16:08

This was a great help, you can change your name legally in 4 ways, deed poll is the best and the free template is great.
Reply
By jonntee 10 February, 2013 - 12:52

Free deed poll to change your name legally on Squidoo link. Lots of info, contacts and step by step process for DIY deed poll.
Reply

By Michelle 11 March, 2013 - 15:32

Hey, the deedpoll site appears to be down….

By Scatman Dan 11 March, 2013 - 15:37

My apologies. It should be up again now. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I’ve been working on a new version with more help and support, an easier-to-use interface, and the ability to make deeds poll for dependent children as well as adults, and I accidentally introduced an incompatibility into the live version while I was doing so.
Reply
- By Michelle 11 March, 2013 - 17:27
  
  No need to apologise !!! It is an awesome service you provide and ask for nothing in return. Trans people everywhere thank u xxx
  Reply

By Richard Owen 5 April, 2013 - 11:31

So do you think all of these services are ripping customers off or just this particular service?

Edit: a link to an a paid-for deed poll service was removed from this comment.

By Scatman Dan 5 April, 2013 - 11:41

Given that I’ve helped hundreds of people write out deeds poll for free, but there are companies who try to sell basically the same service for around £30, it’s my feeling that most of these companies are ripping people off.

The one you linked to can’t spell “United Kingdom”, by the way, and doesn’t know what the plural of “copy” is, which doesn’t give me a lot of faith in them. They also seem inconsistent in their pricing structure, depending on which page you look at. I mention this just in case the site is yours.
Reply

By Emily Falder 9 May, 2013 - 17:49

I would like to point out that the tool does NOT work on Chrome on an iPad (and I assume other iOS devices as well), but it works in Safari perfectly.

By Scatman Dan 10 May, 2013 - 09:13

Thanks for letting me know, Emily! I’m working on a new version of the tool which should correct that problem, as well as adding new features, but I’m slightly tied up with jury duty and buying a house right now! I’ll have it ready soon!
Reply

By Free Deed Poll Generator | 3 February, 2011 - 09:03

[...] Auth in RailsPicInHTML – Hiding In Plain “Site”Mobile One-Time-Passwords in RubyFree Deed PollsAboutOld OKCupid ProfilesContactContact FormGPG KeyInstant Messengers Search [...]
- By steve skelton 8 February, 2013 - 01:29
  
  every time i try and save or open the generated deed poll all i get is a long stream of code NO DEED POLL.
  - By Scatman Dan 8 February, 2013 - 11:39
    
    Sorry you’re having difficulty. It sounds likely that your web browser is not correctly-configured to show a PDF file, and so it’s rendering the PDF file’s internal code right out into your browser window.
    
    Could you try using a different web browser? Meanwhile, I’ll look into a way of making the tool a bit smarter to help people in your position better in future.
By On This Day In 2011 | Scatmania 3 February, 2012 - 12:01

[...] Auth in RailsPicInHTML – Hiding In Plain “Site”Mobile One-Time-Passwords in RubyFree Deed PollsAboutPolyamoryEarthlingsVolunteeringOld OKCupid ProfilesContactContact FormGPG KeyInstant Messengers [...]
By 4 Things You Should Do When Writing A Will (Which My Dad Didn’t) | Scatmania 31 August, 2012 - 14:08

[...] Free Deed Poll [...]
By Craig 1 December, 2012 - 19:27

http://www.squidoo.com/change-your-name

For an overview of all the available methods to legally change your name.
- By Jordie 9 December, 2012 - 22:32
  
  Cool, thats a great help, rest of site good tok!
- By MrjDanger 13 December, 2012 - 16:08
  
  This was a great help, you can change your name legally in 4 ways, deed poll is the best and the free template is great.
- By jonntee 10 February, 2013 - 12:52
  
  Free deed poll to change your name legally on Squidoo link. Lots of info, contacts and step by step process for DIY deed poll.
By Michelle 11 March, 2013 - 15:32

Hey, the deedpoll site appears to be down….
- By Scatman Dan 11 March, 2013 - 15:37
  
  My apologies. It should be up again now. Sorry for the inconvenience.
  
  I’ve been working on a new version with more help and support, an easier-to-use interface, and the ability to make deeds poll for dependent children as well as adults, and I accidentally introduced an incompatibility into the live version while I was doing so.
  - By Michelle 11 March, 2013 - 17:27
    
    No need to apologise !!! It is an awesome service you provide and ask for nothing in return. Trans people everywhere thank u xxx
By Richard Owen 5 April, 2013 - 11:31

So do you think all of these services are ripping customers off or just this particular service?

Edit: a link to an a paid-for deed poll service was removed from this comment.
- By Scatman Dan 5 April, 2013 - 11:41
  
  Given that I’ve helped hundreds of people write out deeds poll for free, but there are companies who try to sell basically the same service for around £30, it’s my feeling that most of these companies are ripping people off.
  
  The one you linked to can’t spell “United Kingdom”, by the way, and doesn’t know what the plural of “copy” is, which doesn’t give me a lot of faith in them. They also seem inconsistent in their pricing structure, depending on which page you look at. I mention this just in case the site is yours.
By Emily Falder 9 May, 2013 - 17:49

I would like to point out that the tool does NOT work on Chrome on an iPad (and I assume other iOS devices as well), but it works in Safari perfectly.
- By Scatman Dan 10 May, 2013 - 09:13
  
  Thanks for letting me know, Emily! I’m working on a new version of the tool which should correct that problem, as well as adding new features, but I’m slightly tied up with jury duty and buying a house right now! I’ll have it ready soon!