Surrogacy
If you are conceiving a child through surrogacy in the UK or abroad, or are a surrogate mother, it is very important to be clear about the legal issues. Whether you are married, unmarried, in a same sex relationship or single, we can advise you and help you secure your family’s legal position, including explaining the law, preparing specialist wills, providing legal representation to acquire parental rights after your child is born and helping you deal with embryos or gametes in storage pending surrogacy. We also provide expert legal representation in relation to disputes between surrogates and commissioning parents after conception, or in the event of a death or any other complication.
The law states that we can provide legal advice but cannot negotiate surrogacy arrangements, which means that we cannot help you find a surrogate or enter into discussions to help you reach an agreement. International surrogacy
We have the UK’s leading expertise in international surrogacy, where the law can become immensely complex. We have significant experience and can assist with immigration and citizenship applications and jurisdictional issues if you are using a foreign surrogate or have foreign connections yourself.
Surrogacy and employment rights
We can also help employers and employees to ascertain the position regarding rights to time off work after the birth of a child born through surrogacy, and can provide representation in the event of any employment dispute.
Information about surrogacy
Read our information leaflets:
Surrogacy
Storage of eggs, sperm and embryos
Sperm donors
Donor conception and co-parenting
If you are conceiving with donor sperm or eggs, or are co-parenting, we can help. We advise parents, co-parents and donors and our clients include heterosexual couples, single men and women and gay and lesbian couples. Whatever your situation, we can advise you on how the law applies, and help you take steps to secure legal protection for your family. We can also provide expert representation if a dispute arises. Some examples of the work we do:
- Assisting lesbian non-birth mothers with acquiring parental status (either routinely or after separation)
- Preparing known donor agreements (including in international situations)
- Preparing co-parenting agreements and advising on acquiring appropriate parental status for more than two parents
- Representing parents resisting claims for involvement from known donors and representing donors being pursued for financial support
- Providing representation in disputes between co-parents
- Helping single women who want to ensure that their husband/ male partner is not the father and helping home inseminating married couples to establish that the husband is the legal father
- Preparing specialist wills to fill legal gaps where parents do not otherwise have rights of legal guardianship or children do not automatically have rights of inheritance
- Advising on the rights your child will have to identify his or her donor and genetic siblings
- Assisting with issues and disputes in relation to use of donor eggs, sperm and embryos in storage
Information about donor conception/co-parenting
Read our information leaflets:
Co-parenting
Lesbian couples: parenting
Sperm donors
Storage of eggs, sperm and embryos
Consent to treatment
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008
Read our information leaflet:
The law regarding fertility treatment
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