Blog
Anti-Bullying Week: Understanding the Legal and Cultural Risks
Emmanuelle Ries
5 May 2016
The opportunities and pitfalls of surrogacy for same sex couples
Reports last week of a gay couple fighting for custody of their surrogate child gives a harsh warning on the pitfalls of international surrogacy. Happily, the couple have won their custody battle with the surrogate mother, who changed her mind about handing over the child when she discovered the intended parents were a gay couple. The American-Spanish couple entered into a surrogacy arrangement in Thailand where same sex marriage is not recognised. Their child was born in January 2015. Thailand is no longer an option for foreign surrogacy, which since this case has been banned, but we find that when one country closes its borders to international surrogacy, another one opens, and intended parents must be extremely cautious when choosing where to enter into their surrogacy arrangement (and where the child is to be born).
19 April 2016
IVF clinic mistakes create legal lacuna for children - beware the traps of the UK’s complex legal parenthood rules
We have recently seen several reported cases dealing with the legal fall out when mistakes are made by some IVF clinics in relation to consent forms, leaving a number of parents in the unhappy position where they are not the legal parents of their children. The Judge in the case of The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 (A & Ors) [2015] EWHC 2602 (“Re A”) described the situation as “alarming and shocking”, making clear that legal parentage is “a question of the most fundamental gravity and importance”. We see similar consequences for parents in surrogacy cases where the commissioning parents are not the legal parents of a child born as a result of a surrogacy arrangement, despite genetic connections.
14 January 2016
Surrogacy wars – where does the balance lie?
In the UK, surrogacy contracts, i.e. a contract providing for the surrogate mother to give the child or children she is carrying to the commissioning parents, are unenforceable. If the surrogate mother changes her mind, even if she has no biological connection with the child, she retains all the legal rights and duties in relation to them, rather than the commissioning parents.
17 December 2015
Recent international surrogacy case addresses immigration issues and challenges in bringing children home
In this blog, family and immigration law specialists Connie Atkinson and Katie Newbury reflect on the recent judgment in a surrogacy case, Re Z (Foreign Surrogacy: Allocation of Work: Guidance on Parental Order Reports), which is likely to impact future surrogacy cases involving immigration issues and cases where children are unable to return to England immediately following their birth. The case also highlights the importance of seeking advice early in cases where parents have a child abroad following an international surrogacy arrangement.
9 April 2015
Surrogacy – a welcome change as intended parents become entitled to adoption leave and pay
Parents using surrogates to help them have children have cause for celebration, as the law in relation to adoption leave and pay is updated to include some intended parents of surrogate children. The changes, which came into force on 5 April 2015, apply to children due on or after that date.