Petition Remove need for consent from married spouse to change surname.
If a woman in an acrimonious divorce that is taking time to finalise wants to change her surname back to her maiden name she can only do this by deed poll. To do this she must attach a consent letter from her spouse to the forms in the LOCO19 pack.
More details
A divorced woman will have a final order from the court stating her marriage has ended. To change her surname back to her maiden name she can give her marriage certificate and the final order to organisations such as DVLC to do this.
A woman who is still married can only change her surname by deed poll and must attach a permission letter from her spouse stating they have no objection. This allows a spouse to control an ex-partner. This disproportionately affects women.
At 10,000 signatures...
At 10,000 signatures, government will respond to this petition
At 100,000 signatures...
At 100,000 signatures, this petition will be considered for debate in Parliament