Revert to maiden name

Now the divorce is over I am considering reverting back to my maiden name, but to be honest, the amount of people/companies I would have to tell is quite daunting.

I imaging first would be passport/driving licence so you have proof of identity, but all the different companies dealt with electric, gas insurance etc, then you have the issue with life assurance, endowment policies etc.

it is something i want to do but i think it will take a lot of planning and i just don;t have the time at the moment. Too busy getting on with my life

I am keeping my married name but reverting to Miss. Changing my name back would feel almost like denying that I had been married for all those years and I also want the same name as the children. From a practical point of view many people I have met over the years only know me by my married name and wouldn't associate my maiden mane with me. I would only add confusion to change.

It is a faff reverting - I have ended up doing a deed poll as I was surprised how few companies will accept a copy of the marriage cert and decree absolute (money laundering and data protection regulations probably).

If you do a deed poll make sure you order a good number of "certified copies" upfront as they cost less that way and places like the passport office will accept them in lieu of the original.

Personally, I wanted to change my name as I felt that when divorcing I was getting MY identity back so wanted what I felt was my name. I also decided to become a Miss again - reckon it might make me feel younger

changedman wrote:
I have often wondered why so many women keep their married name after divorce .
I consider that changing your name after marriage , is one of the very few areas in life where men get the better deal .
I'd hate to change my name ,but many women do after marriage(tho it's not compulsory) ,and keep it after divorce .
But why ? If it was men that changed name ,I'd have changed mine back long ago .
I guess it's mainly for the childrens sake ,but what if there are no children ?
This is quite a good thread ,I will watch it closely

Changedman,

I do not have any children, but I have been Mrs H since I was 20. I am now 34 and my entire life (in paperwork) is in the name Mrs H. I have no wish to change it, I have no need to change it. Nothing to do with my ex, just easier and simpler for me.

K

This is a good thread.

I completely understand why some don't want to change names again.

For me, it was actually a way of declaring that I had moved on and accepted the marriage was over by declaring myself as Miss X again.

When changing names I got comments like "that must be weird" were clarified with "I was Miss X longer than I was Mrs Y, so it's not weird at all", seemed to make a lot of sense to people.

When you speak to people to get your name changed and are told "congratulations" falls a bit flat when they then go on to ask the reason for the name change and you tell them it's divorce. Soon becomes "i'm sorry"!

It is a complete faf having to change names, but I concluded that I was happy to spend the time doing it when I got married, so it's no more trouble to do it when getting divorced.

Thanks for comments, I'd overlooked a number of points you've raised, I get it now !

I have kept my married name for the same reasons as the above posters, to be the same as my children. I divorced my Ex, not my children.

However, both my Ex AND my partner have suggested I might want to revert to my maiden name!

My Partner doesn't understand why, when I was broken emotionally and financially going through the divorce, I would want to keep my ex's name for any longer than I had to.

My Ex's are fairly much that now we're divorced, why am I still using HIS name??!

Neither of them see that by relinquishing this surname, it's almost denying my relationship to my children.

If my Ex remarries, his new wife would have the same surname as my children, but I would not, which would be intolerable.

If I remarry, I will change my surname then, as I have a reason to be different from my children, but not before.