Our lawyers
Our surrogacy and fertility lawyers help a wide variety of clients including individuals who have used assisted reproduction or fertility treatments, intended parents, surrogates, sperm and egg donors, co-parents, step-parents and fertility clinics. We aren’t afraid to push boundaries to find creative solutions to novel problems. A wealth of practical experience means whatever stage of the process you are at, you are in safe and supportive hands with our team.
Recently we have:
- Advised intended parents on an application for a parental order following an international surrogacy arrangement where there were issues relating to the intended parents’ domicile and expenses paid to the surrogate.
- Advised a co-parent who was not in a relationship with the other co-parent but they planned to conceive a child together through fertility treatment.
- Advised a parent in an application for a declaration of parentage following IVF treatment with her then same-sex partner where issues around consent forms for legal parentage arose and it was unclear whether the same-sex partner was a legal parent. The issues arose many years after the child’s birth and the case raised novel points which meant the Secretary of State for Health became involved in the proceedings.
- Represented the surrogate mother in a case where the relationship between the intended parents had broken down during the pregnancy and the intended mother could not apply for a parental order, leaving the surrogate as a legal parent. This case has led to a change in the law allowing single applicants to apply for parental orders.
- Acted for a leading fertility clinic in several reported cases involving declarations of parentage where donors had been used to conceive, including where the parents had separated and were not in agreement about the outcome.
What do you need to know
Most parents do not need to think about whether they are their child’s legal parent, but for parents of children conceived through assisted reproduction (including donor conception, co-parenting and surrogacy), the law has some very specific rules about who is and is not a legal mother, father or parent. And it is getting legal parentage right that is often the most important priority.
Legal parentage is an important legal relationship for both a parent and a child. It has an impact on a wide range of legal issues such as nationality, inheritance, parental responsibility, child arrangements and financial responsibility for a child.
The law is complex and relies on strict criteria being met to ensure legal parentage is conferred. Sometimes even if you intend someone to be a legal parent the law does not recognise them as one and may recognise the legal parents as people you do not want to be legal parents such as donors or a surrogate.
However, there are a myriad of other issues to be aware of depending on your circumstances:
- Relationships breaking down during fertility treatment or surrogacy
- Donation of eggs and sperm
- Anonymity of donors
- The use of stored embryos after a divorce or separation
- Posthumous conception