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You
are entitled to be known by whatever name
you wish and can change that name at any time
provided that you are not using a name to
defraud or impersonate someone. You must be
consistent in your use of one name, although
for professional reasons some people may have
a business name and a personal name.
The
transsexual person should obtain a Doctor's
letter on request or when hormone therapy
has commenced, in order to support the change
of name documentation.
Those
transgender people who are not intending to
seek gender reassignment surgery, but who
wishes to dress in the male gender role can
also request a Doctor's letter, if they do
receive hormone therapy. An example of a suitable
Doctor's letter is shown below:
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Doctors
Letter (for a transgender person)
Headed Letter Paper with Address of GP, Consultant
Psychiatrist or GIC
Medical
Ref. No. Date
This
letter or card is to indicate that [insert new name]
is attending the Gender Identity Clinic at XXXX
hospital for assessment of the condition of gender
dysphoria and that it is necessary for him to wear
male clothes as part of the treatment.
Confirmation
may be obtained by contacting . . . . . . . . .
. .
Patients
signature. Doctor or Consultants signature.
Changing
your Name
This should only
be done at the appropriate time when you have decided
to live full time or live significantly in your
chosen gender role. You do not need surgery of any
kind to change your name or to change it on any
statutory documents. The cheapest method is to change
your name by statutory declaration.
Below
you will find two sample statutory declarations.
I personally prefer the second one and actually
used this one myself! - you can type this up for
yourself, filling in the blank spaces and then get
it sworn in front of a commissioner for Oaths (UK)...
thats it ...finished. (Don't forget to get some
certified true and original copies)
STATUTORY
DECLARATION
I .......................
....................... of
....................... DO SOLEMNLY AND SINCERELY
DECLARE as follows:-
1. I, in pursuance
of the fact that I am undergoing treatment to reassign
my gender from [female] to [male], do absolutely
and entirely renounce relinquish and abandon the
use of my former names of .................................
and assume adopt and determine to take and use the
names of ......................in substitution for
my former names of ........................................
2. I shall at all
times hereafter in all records deeds documents and
other writings and in all actions proceedings as
well as in all dealings and transactions on all
occasions whatsoever use and subscribe the said
names of ..................................... as
my name in substitution for my former names of ........................
.................................... so relinquished
as aforesaid to the intent that I may hereafter
be called known or distinguished not by my former
names of ........................................
but by my names of ...............................
only.
3. I authorise and
require all persons at all times to designate describe
and address me by the adopted names of ...........................
4.AND I make this
Solemn Declaration conscientiously believing the
same to be true and by virtue of the provisions
of the Statutory Declarations Act 1835.
SIGNED AND DECLARED
at
in the County of
this ____ day, the
______ of ________ 200_
Before
me __________________ Solicitor/Commissioner for
Oaths
STATUTORY
DECLARATION OF CHANGE OF NAME
BY
.............................................
I, .............................................
(formerly .............................................,
of .............................................
in the county of .............................................)
DO SOLEMNLY AND SINCERELY DECLARE as follows.
1. I was formerly called .............................................
and am a citizen of the United Kingdom and colonies
by birth.
2. I absolutely and entirely renounce relinquish
and abandon the use of my former name of .............................................
and assume adopt and determine to take and use the
names of .............................................
in substitution of my former name.
3. I shall at all times hereof in all records deeds
documents and other writings and in all actions
and proceedings as well as in all dealings and transactions
and on all occasions whatsoever use and subscribe
the said name of .............................................
in substitution for my former names of .............................................
so relinquished as aforesaid to the intent that
I may hereafter be called or known or distinguished
not by my former names of .............................................
but by the name of .............................................
only.
4. I authorise and require all persons at all times
to designate describe and address me by the adopted
name of .............................................
and I make this solemn declaration conscientiously
believing the same to be true and by the provisions
of the STATUTORY DECLARATIONS ACT of 1835.
DECLARED AT
this day of
before me
Solicitor
/ Commissioner for Oaths
This
is a statement made by you giving the name you wish
to be known by, and witnessed by a solicitor, Justice's
clerk or other authorised officer of the court in
accordance with the Statutory Declarations Act 1835.
The sample statutory
declaration as shown and which can be used for the
purpose, can be typed out, and filled in. You should
keep several copies and preferably get these copies
certified by a responsible person such as a Solicitor,
or consultant psychiatrist. The cost of using a
statutory declaration is nominal as it only costs
a fee of five pence if the declaration is witnessed
before a justice's clerk (if he is present) at a
Magistrate's court under the Magistrates Courts
Act 1980.
If
the declaration is made before some other authorised
officer such as a solicitor, then the current fee
is £5 under Commissioners for Oaths (Fees)
No.2 Order 1988, No. 998. These copies of the statutory
declaration are sent together with a copy of your
birth certificate and the letter from your Doctor
or Consultant psychiatrist (see below) to facilitate
the change of name on statutory documents as discussed
below.
Below is a sample
draft of a letter which can used to accompany a
copy of your Statutory Declaration to Government
Departments or anyone else.
Headed paper with address
of GP, Doctor, GIC or consultant.
Medical Reference No.
Date.
To whom it may concern.
This
is to confirm that my patient Mr.,/Miss/Ms.,/Mrs.,]
[Full name] is currently undergoing gender reassignment
to the male role, and as part of this process has
changed his name by Statutory Declaration to [Mr.,/Miss./Ms.,/Mrs.,]
[full name].
This
change of sex is permanent and your assistance in
making the relevant changes to your records and
in preserving full confidentiality would be appreciated.
Doctor,
GP or Consultants signature
The letter from
your doctor MUST say the change will be PERMANENT.
If it does not you may find you have some difficulties
changing your passport, and some other documentation.
Changing
Statutory Documents
All the following
statutory documents can be changed whether or not
you are transgender or transsexual, all that matters
is that you should not change these documents until
you are predominantly living full time in your chosen
gender role.
You cannot however
change your birth certificate in any way in England,
Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland you can
however change your forenames and/or surname upon
application to the Registrar General for Scotland,
and request the issue of a new birth certificate
but you cannot change the gender on the birth certificate.
Medical
Card
To obtain a new
Medical Card you should write to your local Family
Practitioner Committee, requesting a Medical Card
in your new name, and enclosing the letter from
your Doctor or Psychiatrist as outlined above together
with a copy of your Statutory Declaration and your
old Medical Card.
Your new Medical
Card number will be a completely new number though
the last three figures which are the suffix will
remain the same and your new number will also have
a special prefix of an ‘A’ or a ‘Z’
which denotes that an alteration or variation in
unspecified status has taken place.
The
Department of Social Security (The Benefits Agency)
Send a certified
copy of your statutory declaration with your doctor's
letter together with a letter from yourself quoting
your National Insurance number to the central office
of the Benefits Agency , address as follows:
Department of Social
Security, Special Section, Room 105H, Contributions
Agency Central Operations, Newcastle Upon Tyne,
NE98 1YX.
Telephone: 0191 225
7123
The DSS will acknowledge
your change of name and style of address and reply
in a standard letter stating that in effect that
the change will have no effect to any legal entitlement
to state benefits, especially the state pension.
You may also receive a plastic NI number card which
will show the new title and name but there will
be nothing on the card to indicate any change of
name or previous name.
The entitlement
to a state pension, following decision CP/76 of
the National Insurance Commissioner is that a transsexuals
right to a state pension will be by reference to
your original biological sex. This means that if
were born a man you will receive your pension at
65 and if you were born a woman you will receive
it at 60. The fact that the retirement age for state
pensions for both men and woman are now being equalised
by the year 2020 will then make no difference to
entitlements or retirement ages. The national insurance
number will NOT be changed by the DSS and the central
office of the DSS in Newcastle will record your
previous legal name as well as your new one and
may be viewed on the DCI computer by any authorised
employee of the DSS.
All employees of
the DSS are bound to keep information confidential
unless required by the courts or the police through
special section A.
The DSS central
index of your National Insurance number will also
be annotated and flagged that you are to be treated
as male for some purposes and female for others.
A transsexual is
entitled to unemployment benefit in the same way
that every other person is and will also be treated
in the same way for the payment of national insurance
contributions. If you are unemployed then the Unemployment
benefit office and Job centre will also be aware
of your previous details and will require to be
informed of your change of status. Employees of
the unemployment benefit office are again bound
by confidentiality.
The
Inland Revenue & Income Tax
Send a letter addressed
to your Inspector of Taxes in the tax office which
deals with your affairs - your employer or your
benefits office will tell you which tax office deals
with you affairs. You can write in confidence and
mark the envelope private & confidential, but
do quote your National Insurance number and Tax
reference. You should enclose a copy of your Doctor's
or Psychiatrist's letter together with a copy of
your Statutory Declaration or Deed Poll and your
Medical Card. Your income tax records will always
be changed and any further correspondence will always
be addressed in your new legal name.
If you advise the
DSS of your change of status you must advise the
Inland Revenue at the same time but you should not
of course notify theses changes until you have also
informed your employer.
Driving
Licence
Send
a covering letter to the DVLA in Swansea together
with a copy of your Doctor's or Psychiatrist's letter
and a copy of your Statutory Declaration or Deed
Poll and your old driving licence.
If
you change your name and hold a current driving
licence you must inform the DVLA without delay otherwise
this is an offence under section 99 of the Road
Traffic Act 1988.
The
covering letter should state that you wish your
legal name on the licence amended to the of your
new legal name and furthermore that the gender code
be altered to that of your new role. You must ensure
that the gender code is changed and not just your
name as explained below.
On
your driving licence your date of birth and sex
is shown in the number. For example a man born on
seventh of June 1943 would have a DVLA number 406073.
It is the second DVLA digit that is the gender code
in which a `5' or a `6' is added for a female. A
female would be shown as 456073. This can be stated
as follows:
The
DVLA code for a man born on 7 June 1943 is: 406073
The
two outside digits 4 . . . . 3 are the year. The
second and third digits - 06 are the month. The
fourth and fifth digits - 07 are the date.
The
DVLA code for a woman born on the 7 June 1943 would
conversely be: 456073
The
two outside digits 4 . . . . 3 are the year. The
second and third digits - 56 are the month. The
fourth and fifth digits - 07 are the date. You can
see clearly that the gender code of 5 is added for
female and is of course a complete give away to
the police if they should ever inspect your licence.
If you are a mtf transsexual you should ensure that
the female gender code is added and if you are a
ftm transsexual that it is deleted.
Passport
You
can obtain a new passport if you are a transsexual.
All you need do is to complete the passport application
together with the statutory fee and send this with
a copy of your Doctor's or Psychiatrist's letter
and a copy of your Statutory Declaration. You must
also send your old passport back and if you have
not held a passport before you must also send your
original birth certificate to the passport office.
The passport office will change the gender title.
You
should send your passport application to:
The
Office Manager, Room 235, UK Passport Agency, 70-78,
Petty France, London, SW1H 9HD.
Bank
Accounts
Being
a transsexual presents no problem as far as banks
or building societies are concerned, as they will
apply exactly the same criteria in the case of credit
assessment as for anyone else. As a pre-op transsexual
you can even request a second account in your new
or proposed name or pseudonym so that you can use
a cheque book and cheque card that is appropriate
to your gender role.
The
granting of a second account in your new or other
name is however discretionary on the part of the
bank. (The Royal Bank of Scotland, for example,
have a stated policy on transgenderism). The bank
will however change your name as a matter of course
once it has received a certified copy of your Statutory
Declaration. The bank will also require a signature
card with your new signature or in the case of a
second account the signature which you will use
for the operation of that account.
Credit
Cards
Again
altering details on these and requesting new ones
will present no problems. Simply send a covering
letter to the credit card company together with
a copy of your Statutory Declaration requesting
a change in your name and requesting that new cards
be issued in that name. Do however watch out for
the fact that certain credit card companies utilise
gender checking as a form of security.
On
some credit cards the gender may be stated in which
case it is easy to see the alteration but on some
others such as Barclaycard there is no gender indicator
as there are only initials. The use of initials
is a deliberate part of the security system in that
if your card is ever checked for any reason then
the first thing the shop assistant is asked of the
cardholder is the gender of the cardholder. Therefore
make sure that the credit card is tied to an account
in your preferred name.
H.M.
Land Registry
If
you own a house or flat in your own name, you must
change your name on the proprietorship register
at the district land registry where your property
is registered. You need to forward a covering letter
stating the address of your property together with
the registered title number of the property concerned
and enclose a certified copy of your statutory declaration.
If your property is mortgaged then you must also
inform your building society or mortgagee.
Other
Matters
You
may also wish to change your name on various other
matters such as examination certificates and all
you need do is to write to the examination bodies
concerned and enclose a certified copy of your statutory
declaration. There may well be a fee for such a
service and you should enquire beforehand.
Also
do not forget to advise utilities such as the Electricity
and Water companies, community charge, insurance
policies, clubs and societies and any other relevant
body.
Some
University examination bodies have recently refused
to alter the name on the degree certificates of
some transsexuals. If this happens, then initially
write an appeal to the examinations office, with
supporting evidence such as your statutory declaration
and doctor's letter. If again refused, then contact
the Lesbian and Gay officer of the Students Union,
who will ensure that you have support when you make
a formal appeal to the University Senate body, though
it would be very surprising if the University insisted
upon taking the matter that far.
The
City and Guilds Examining body agreed (May 1998)
to issuing a new certificate showing the new name
and details for those transsexual people who have
City and Guilds Certificates
