What is my actual legal surname.

[SassyD4]

When my brother & I were about 4/5ish my mum & stepdad got married & we were told we now had his name as he had adopted us so from that day on we were known by the new surname. Jump 30ish years on was having conversation with my real farther about things from back then & he was like what made you change your names when you was younger & I explained that after the weekend we were told this was our new name & been so young we didn't really question it. Anyway my dad went on to tell me about a month after my mum married this particular husband he came to see us & got to the house early so asked if he could pick us up from school which mum was fine with & this is where the confusion stems from because school were like we don't have a Joe & Sally Bloggs attending but we do have Joe & Sally Smith. Anyway to try keep this not to long a post Dad asked mum about the name chance & she said that Vincent had adopted us & from that point she changed our details with Dr's, school dentist etc but my birth father never ever was asked about us been adopted & definitely never had any paperwork & had he he would have point blank refused to sign them. So I've just realised as it's almost time for licence renewal I don't know if I should be using Blogs as mum didn't do it through deed poll so my birth certificate is in blogs but I've been paying tax & seeing GP's as Smith. So am I Smith Or Bloggs legally it's too much for me to get my blonde head around but that is probably because I can get confuzzled easier than I'd care to admit

[ostell]

You've been known as Smith, the name you have been using for most of your life.

Perhaps adoption is an automatic name change, I would think so but I don't know. Where you formally adopted?

You can use any name you like as long as there is no intention to deceive.

You birth father may well have had no rights of access etc and therefore there was no need to ask him.

My stepdaughter, who I met when she was 5, has been using my name ever since and she's over 40 now. Only problem was the first passport and a letter to the passport office was sufficient to explain away birth name and useage name.

[SassyD4]

I was never actually adopted we have recently found out my mum just changed our names with the Dr's & school & then it spiraled from there from what I can gather. She didn't change it through deed poll either which was why I was wondering really.

I did a similar letter when applying for my first passport though at the time I had thought was because I'd been adopted, I also had to have someone who knew me as a child write to them too to confirm that I had been known by my stepfather's name since I was little as they would only issue a temporary one until it was confirmed

[ostell]

So you are in the same situation as my daughter. You are the person you are known as for most of your life. So you have the name on the passport?

[MIKE770]

adoption and name change:- we had to go to family court who needed to see those involved and it was explained to them their name changing, 3 of the 4 children involved the other child was our own was taken out of court as not involved, and relevant registration certificates were issued with the changes.

[moshelawyer]

Israeli lawyer Moshe Strugano (Attorney - Moshe Strugano and Co Law firm), an expert in the “formation of offshore companies"