For minors (under 21), ICA previously permitted one parent to sign a child’s Deed Poll with (i) the consent of the other parent, (ii) if the other parent has died or was not contatable, or (iii) that parent is a single mother as shown in the birth certificate.
If the child’s Deed Poll was signed by one parent, our understanding was that ICA required that parent to sign a declaration form on the basis that he or she was signing the Deed Poll alone. Below are extracts of ICA’s past policies and procedures permitting one parent to sign subject to requisite declaration.
Extract of ICA’s letter dated 25 May 2007 to Law Society of Singapore:
Extracts from ICA’s previous policies in FAQ section of its website on 4 January 2022 (note that these are no longer applicable):
Notwithstanding that ICA then permitted one parent to sign a Deed Poll on behalf of a child, our advice to our clients was to bring the Deed Poll to ICA to immediately update the child’s name at its Registry of Birth and/or in the child’s passport. In that event, we verily believe that ICA would have accepted the Deed Poll and the name change of the child, and the status of the child’s Deed Poll would not be affected by any subsequent policy changes at ICA.
However, in recent years, ICA has changed its policies, and its current policy requires both parents to sign the child’s Deed Poll save for exceptional circumstances as stated in this help article.
If you are a parent who had signed your child’s Deed Poll alone a few years ago (but you did not submit it to ICA) and the same has now been rejected by ICA, you should do a fresh Deed Poll for your child based on ICA’s policy as stated in this help article.
