Assisted reproduction, fertility treatment, donor conception and co-parenting
Our team of leading fertility lawyers provide expert legal advice on all forms of assisted reproduction, fertility treatment, donor conception and co-parenting to help you create and protect your family.
We know that there are lots of different ways people form families from assisted reproduction and fertility treatment which may or may not involve the use of a donor, to co-parenting arrangements where people who are not in relationships together choose to have and raise a child together.
Navigating issues around who will be treated as a legal parent (which is not always who you intend) and what involvement in your child’s life everyone will have can be tricky and we can help you address the issues whenever they arise. We also know when couples separate there can sometimes be issues around what should happen to any stored embryos.
What you need to know
In the UK, the legal mother will always be the person who gives birth to the child. Who else is a legal parent will depend on how the child was conceived, whether the legal mother was married or in a civil partnership, whether fertility treatment took place at a UK licenced fertility clinic and what consent forms were completed prior to treatment. In some circumstances a sperm donor may be treated as a legal parent even if you do not intend them to be.
Legal parentage can affect a wide number of issues for parents and children including nationality, inheritance, parental responsibility, child arrangements and financial responsibility for a child.
We help parents and donors navigate these issues at whatever stage they arise, whether pre-conception including advising on the appropriate clinic forms that need to be completed for treatment at a UK licenced fertility clinic and preparing pre-conception agreements or after a child is born.
Even if someone is not a legal parent they may be able to make applications for parental responsibility or a child arrangements order (often referred to as residence or contact orders).
We know that sometimes issues only arise when things go wrong. We can help you deal with disputes where there is uncertainty about who is a legal parent, if there is a dispute as to what should happen to stored embryos or if someone you agreed would be a donor is seeking to become involved in your child’s life.
