Bulgaria - Change your Name (Deed Poll)

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Procedure

Changing the name begins with the submission of an application to the District Court. The applicant must prepare a copy of the application with proofs and give it to the municipality at his permanent residence. He also needs to send one set to the District Attorney. The applicant has the right his case to be considered in terms of the so-called "expedited procedure". The latter requires the court on the day of receipt of application to send a copy of it together with any attachments for delivery to the defendant (municipality) and the other interested party-the prosecution. Municipal administration and the district attorney are entitled to a written response within 7 days. 5 days after the deadline for response in a closed session, the court shall decide on the admission of the evidences submitted by the parties and set the case for after 15 days. The parties are informed for the date of the case with summons. The court announces its decision with the reasons for it within 7 days after the proceedings. Each of the parties: the citizen, the prosecution or the municipality has the right to appeal the court decision within 14 days.

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Required Documents

• An application to the District court
• Copy of the application for the municipality at his permanent residence
• Copy of the application for the District attorney

Office Locations & Contacts

Civil Registration and Administrative Services Territorial Units

Registers of civil status in the Republic of Bulgaria

Ministry of Justice contacts

Contacts and web sites of municipalities

Bulgarian Government Offices and Agencies

In the links below you can find phone numbers and addresses of the District courts in Bulgaria:
http://www.lex.bg/bg/lawcourts
http://juris.free.bg/04%20Syd.html

Eligibility

The Bulgarian law requires the applicant for name change to be over 18 years old. If he/she is younger then parents consent is needed.

People choose to change their name for a variety of reasons. Maybe you just want to change the spelling of your name, you don't like the name your parents gave you, you want to get rid of your middle name, you want to remove any family associations, or maybe you just want a change! You can legally change your first name, middle name or surname, or any combination of those.

Fees

The state charges for the court case 8 levs.

Validity

The name change is valid forever.

Documents to Use

Please attach documents which can be used by people who would like to follow this procedure.    

Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents which would help other people who would like to follow this procedure.    

Processing Time

Calculations show that the shortest period for approving reasonable request for change of name (without appeal) is about 60 days.

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications. 
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type="website">video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the "&" inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver, 
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M" Video ID is "Y0US7oR_t3M". 
	

Instructions

The name is part of the civil status of individuals. It individualizes and identifies us in public.
Most often the reasons for the name change are:

• Marriage
• Divorce
• Adoption
• if the name is ridiculous or libelous or socially unacceptable
• When important circumstances require adjustment.

The procedure is aimed at changing the name, middle name and surname of the person in court in the cases exhaustively listed by the Civil Registration Act (GRI). Given that the individual is identified, marked, distinct from the other entities in society with its name, which legitimized and, and from this a number of rights and obligations for it, then the possibilities for changing it are strictly defined by law and only be allowed in certain circumstances.

Required Information

• Full name
• Permanent address
• Personal identification number
• Reason for the requested name change

Need for the Document

Sometimes parents to please grandparents, baptized their children with names that they may not like or even be ashamed of them. Moreover certain events in our lives also lead to changing our name all or part of it.

If you are using, or wish to use, a name other than your registered name, there is no legal requirement that you formally change your name. It is, however, recommended that you change your name officially, both for identification and as evidence of your name change.

Name change generally refers to the legal act by a person of adopting a name different from their name at birth, marriage or adoption. The procedures and ease of a name change vary between jurisdictions.

Information which might help

• Name change leads to a change of identity documents. Under the Bulgarian law there is a fine up to 150lv if you change your name and you do not submit an application for change of identity documents within 30 days.
• It is recommended that the applicant obtains certificate of conviction in case there are any doubts that he wishes to change his name to hide from prosecution or child support or anything like that.

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

You may want to change your name because:

• You have just gotten married
• You have divorced
• You just want a change

Some people change their names for religious reasons for example when they change their religious views they often change and their names.

External Links

http://blog.apis.bg/2013/05/promyana-na-sobstveno-bashtino-i-familno-ime-po-sa-deben-red/
http://law-consult.net/?p=1519
http://www.proassistance.net/2012/10/%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BC%D1%8F%D0%BD%D0%B0-%D0%BD%D0%B0-%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BE-%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B5-%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B2/
Bulgaria Government Sites & official Sites

Government of Bulgaria

Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Bulgaria

Directorate General Civil Registration and Administrative Services

Others

How you should go about changing your name will depend upon which category you fit into. Changing your name after marriage or divorce is quite a simple process, while changing your name 'just because' requires a little more effort, but it is still quite straight forward and a lot easier than it used to be.

To change your name, submit a petition to your local Superior Court that details the reasons you'd like to change your name. After the court approves your request, you'll then need to update your Social Security card, driver's license and passport.

Typically, you may legally change your name to whatever name you'd like. There are some exceptions, though:

• You can't change your name just to escape debt liability or to hide from criminal liability.
• You can't change your name in order to commit a crime.
• You can't change your name with the intention to mislead. This usually involves taking the name of a famous person. Courts typically do not allow this, unless you have a convincing reason that is not related to the famous person or the use of his or her name.
• You can't choose a confusing name one that includes numerals or punctuation. However, some courts have permitted people to spell out the numbers, for example "Seven" instead of "7".
• You can't choose a name that would intimidate, offend, or be considered obscene.
• You can't choose a racial slur.