Quote Originally Posted by johncar54 View Post
30 years ago was a long time ago,

Well with regards to Common Law, the basis of that goes hundreds of years. Anyway, if the 30 years is a problem, over those years I have known several people who have changed their name (after chatting with me) the last was 3 years ago.

As for the same name thing. That of course is not universal. In Spain it is for all practical purpose totally impossible to change ones name and that applies to a woman when she gets married: She keeps HER name.

So far my wife and I, different names, have not experienced any problems in UK (Pension increase: Medical cover provided by NHS for my wife in Spain etc).

If one has changed their name, they should be able to prove who they are, as they have documentation in the previous name and they are the same person; they will have only changed their name. That was what I found when Visa questioned it when I change my name. When I pointed out the obvious that I still the same person who had been their customer for a number of years, they saw the logic.
I think this thread is going off on a tangent.. The issue is for a person who wasn't a current customer of a bank, who wanted to open an account, preferably in a name (ie married name) not on their passport. And the reason for opening the account in the married name rather than the maiden name is because they wanted to rather than because they felt it might cause an issue.