You will need to produce both the deed poll document as well as the letter of consent when applying to change official documents such as school records or passports.
If you are unable to obtain permission from the other parent or person with parental responsibility, you will find that any deed poll document that you produce will not be accepted. The only other way to proceed, is to apply to your local family court for a specific issue order.
You would need to show a very good reason for changing the child’s name by deed poll without the consent of the other parent or person with parental responsibility.
Here are some examples from well-known legal cases.
• A parent says that s/he is distressed by calling the child by the child's registered name, for instance, a child named after a violent father. Such distress might impact on the mother's ability to care for the child.
• Safety and protection concerns might justify a change of a child's name.
• It might be in the child's best interests to change his or her name. For example, the child has been known by the given name for a significant period of time and not changing the child's registered name to the given name would cause the child harm.
• A parent wishes all the children of the family to have the same surname.
• A parent believes that he or she was prevented from exercising parental responsibility by being deprived the right to choose the child's name. For example, a mother claims that she was controlled by the father, whether physically or emotionally, and prevented by him from exercising her right to parental responsibility by choosing the child’s name.
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